How to Win Your Heart
by Teapotgirl
Summary: Now that Atem had moved onto the after life, Yugi must now grow stonger for himself in order to move forward. Yet, things may not be that easy. Trying to win the heart of his best friend who may have preffered his 'other self' rather than himself. Not only that, he has to endure the embarrassments that come into play with being a highschool student.
1. Only the Beginning

**A/N: Hello everyone, Teapotgirl is back in business. I have recently become very obsessed with Yu-gi-oh, so much that I have bought the entire manga series. I loved it so much and now they are going to be releasing a movie! I cannot wait! So, I realised from reading the series that I love Yugi and Anzu as a couple, better known as peachshipping if you guys are fans of the pairing. Basically, I wanted to write a story that takes place right after the ending of the manga which will show how Yugi and Anzu get together. I've kept the original Japanese names of the characters because the Japanese names were used in the manga. Anyway, let us get on with the first chapter and be sure to review.**

 **I don't own Yu-gi-oh.**

* * *

Chapter 1: Only the Beginning

So that's it then. We came so far together and yet we had to depart just like that. It seems crazy if you think about it. You helped me when I was in trouble, supported me when I was breaking down and gave me the confidence I needed. But, most importantly, you were one of my closet friends I could ask for.

Yugi and his friends had just landed at the airport. Everyone kept quiet. They were all still upset to see the pharaoh move on to the afterlife. They walked outside the airport so that they could catch the coach that was picking them up.

"What time does the coach arrive?" asked Ryuji.

"In about 5 minutes." Sugoroku replies whilst checking his watch.

"I see."

Silence befalls on the gang again.

Not too long after, the coach arrives and everyone boards. Sugoroku hands the driver the ticket and joins Yugi at the back of the coach.

Everyone else had been dropped off by the coach, leaving Yugi and Sugoroku. The two hadn't really said much, just the little things such as what they want for dinner when they got back. "I'm proud of you Yugi," Sugoroku says.

"Hmm?" Yugi hadn't been paying attention as he was too much in thought about the loss of his friend. He turns to face his grandpa. "Why? I haven't done anything to be proud of."

"Don't be silly, you did everyone proud. You surpassed your other self and helped him to return to the place he truly belongs to."

"Was it the right thing to do though?"

"If I was in your position, I would have done the same thing."

Yugi averted his eyes from his grandpa and back to the window to resume his thinking. Sugoroku lets out a small sigh and ends the conversation.

The coach stops at the game shop letting the two off. Yugi rushes off and enters the shop. Before his mother could greet him, he runs up the stairs to his room and falls facedown onto his bed. He begins to cry and thinks back to all the times when he and his 'other self' would duel alongside each other. He remembers when his 'other self' saved him and his friends from dark Bakura when they played that role playing game. And the other time when they had to swap minds in order to defeat Pegasus. And all the duels…against Kaiba…against Marik…and the other fellow duellists.

Why did you have to go?

* * *

Morning arises, but Yugi would rather skip school today as he didn't sleep a wink last night. Yugi looks at the clock. 7:30 Am. Just as Yugi was about to pull the covers back over him, his grandpa knocks on the door. "Yugi! Hurry up and get out of bed. You don't want to be late for school now do you?"

Yugi gave out a load moan and forces himself out of bed. Looking in the mirror, he notices that his eyes have formed some lovely bags. _Great…_ Yugi thinks to himself and he starts to get ready for school.

Yugi leaves the game shop and starts to walk to meet the others. Usually he would walk to school with Anzu, but the others wanted to talk before they started school. As he walked, he felt weird without having his Millennium puzzle. It was always close to him, but now it's …gone. Just like that. A few minutes passed and Yugi saw the others up ahead.

"Good morning Yugi," Katsuya waved to him.

"Hi, good morning," Yugi replied waving back. As he walked to them Honda noticed the bags under Yugi's eyes.

"Not much sleep either huh?" Honda pointed to Yugi's bags. Yugi just nodded and the four of them began to walk. No one was really talking so Anzu broke the silence.

"What's our first lesson?"

"Maths," Yugi states.

"Awe man! I just remembered that we have homework due in," Katsuya begins to panic, "let me see your answers Honda."

"I haven't done them either," Honda too begins to panic. "I forgot when we went to Egypt."

"Well that's just great. I don't have time for detention you know!"

"Well neither do I!" The two begin to grab each other but stop and both turn to look at Anzu.

"Don't even bother, I'm not giving you two the answers."

"Come on Anzu, we're friends aren't we?" Katsuya exclaims.

"Okay then, what about you Yugi?" Honda asks with a big grin on his face.

Yugi had been walking with his head down unaware to the other three.

"Yugi what's wrong?" Anzu asks.

Yugi raises his head and balls his hand into a fist. "I've decided that in order for me to move on, without my 'other self', I need to become more confident. That's why I need to become stronger as myself. My 'other self' was able to follow his path in order to reach his goal and now it's my turn to do the same. As for my journey…it's only the beginning."

The other three remained silent for a moment but then Katsuya placed his arm around Yugi. "That's what I like to hear! Now how about we have a race to the gates from here?"

"Okay, you're on Jonouchi," Yugi said smiling but not long after Katsuya began to run, "no fair!" Yugi began to chase after him whilst Honda and Anzu just face palmed.

The four arrive at maths class and take their seats. Not long after, Bakura and Ruyji enter the classroom and walk over to them. "Morning everyone," Bakura and Ruyji greet as they make their way over to them. Just as Bakura was about to sit down Katsuya grabs him by the shoulders.

"Please tell me you have done the maths homework!"

"Yes, why?"

"Can I see your answers?"

"Sure Jonouchi," Bakura hands him over the paper and Honda rushes over to see the answers as well.

"Honestly, can't they do the work themselves, right Yugi?" Anzu asks him but notices that he was looking out of the window not paying any attention to the conversation. "Yugi…" Just as Anzu was about to get his attention, class began.

It was now lunchtime and Yugi and Katsuya were waiting for the others to join them. Well, Katsuya couldn't wait as he was already tucking into his food. Yugi was listening to his friend rambling on about how he had to redo the homework as the teacher had caught him and Honda copying the answers from Bakura.

"Tsk, there's no reason to learn maths anyway. When am I going to need algebra? It's so stupid." Yugi just nodded to his friend in response which made Katsuya raise an eyebrow. "What's up man?"

"Nothing, why?"

"You've been nothing but silent since we left the classroom. Is it to do with Atem?"

"Kind of…" Yugi trails off.

Katsuya stops eating momentarily. "So what is it then? Are you not feeling well?"

Yugi pauses for a few seconds. "That's not it. Jonouchi…did I ever tell you that Anzu liked my 'other self' more than me?"

Just as Katsuya was about to respond, Ryuji, Honda and Bakura arrive. Honda slumps down on his seat as he too has to redo the homework assignment. He then begins to chow down on his 'lunch'.

"What did you get today Honda?" asks Bakura whilst he sits down.

"Two beef burgers, fries, onion rings and some dumplings," he explains whilst he licks his fingers from the grease of the burgers.

"You greedy pig. I'm surprised you're still the same weight," Ryuji comments in disgust.

"Hey! I do work out you know. I've been getting pretty muscular lately."

"Really…"

"Yep. Check out this boys," Honda flexes his muscles, "now I'll have more of a chance with the girls."

"Ha. You're gonna show off your muscles and expect girls to just cling to you?"

"That's the idea."

"You're such an idiot."

"Speaking of girls", Katsuya buts in, "where's Anzu?"

"She told me that she had to see her teacher about an assignment or something," Bakura explains. After that, the guys eat their lunch.

Once they finished, Honda invites everyone to Burger world afterschool. Bakura explains that he can't because he has relatives visiting later and Ryuji says that he has to take care of a delivery at his game store.

"No thanks, I'm busy later on," Yugi lies, as he's really not in the mood to hang out afterwards.

"I'm free after," Katsuya says.

"But it won't be as much fun with just the two of us!" Honda whines.

"How about this then. You all know about the new theme park that opened last week? Well how about we go this Sunday," Bakura suggests.

"Count me in," Katsuya says.

"Me too," Ryuji agrees.

"I don't see why not. It's been so long since I've been to a theme park," Honda rises from his seat, "Heck yeah! Now I'm excited."

"You're such a child," Katsuya points out, "you coming too Yugi?"

Yugi snaps out of his daze since he hadn't been paying attention. "Sure, I'm free."

"I'll be sure to invite Anzu too," Bakura says. "Shall we meet at 10:30?" Everyone nods in agreement and not before too long the bell sounds for the end of lunch.

The end of school came around and Yugi was at his shoe locker. He thought of going to bed straight away once he got back since he was still sleep deprived. He took out his regular shoes from his locker and placed his uniform shoes back inside. Just as Yugi was about to leave, Katsuya patted him on the shoulder. "See ya tomorrow bud," he walks past Yugi but then stops, "how do you know that Anzu liked Atem more than you?" He asks before he walks out of the door. Yugi eyes widened, but he just shook his head and left for the game shop.

* * *

"Whoohoo! I'm so excited!" Honda, Bakura and Katsuya were walking together towards the theme park. It seems that Honda was just…a little too excited.

"Calm down dude, it's just a theme park. It's not like we're going to meet girls or something," Katsuya states.

"Nope, but there will be girls there! And I'll be ready 'cuz I have my new secret weapon."

Katsuya just face palms at Honda's stupidity whilst Bakura sweat drops. The time was now 10:27, and the three had arrived at the theme park. Standing by the ticket booth was Yugi and Ryuji. Before they joined the two, Bakura noticed that Yugi hasn't been himself lately. Katsuya just explains that it will take him some time to adjust without his 'other self'. Bakura just nods and the three join Yugi and Ryuji. Noticing that Anzu wasn't here, Katsyua asks, "So, where's Anzu?"

"She'll be here any minute now," Ryuji replies and not too long after speaking, Anzu arrives at the ticket booth panting.

"Sorry I took so long," she gasps out.

"You're not late, it's bang on 10:30."

"Oh, good."

"Anzu! You're a girl, tell me are you impressed?" Honda asks as he flexes his arms to show off his muscles.

"Impressed by what? Your pose?" The other boys snigger and Honda tells them to shut up.

"Not the pose, my muscles, pretty cool huh?"

"You're not going to get anywhere with girls if all you do is show them off, idiot."

"Oh come on!" Honda relaxes his arms.

"Girls care more about the guy than just their muscles you know."

"Better luck next time 'chick magnet," Ryuji mocks.

"Shut up."

Bakura pays for the tickets and they head inside. He explains that the tickets are on him as he invited everyone. The place is even bigger than they imagined. The park was separated into three areas. One containing all the rollercoasters, another which offered a variety of rides, such as the water slide, and the third area which consisted of arcade games.

"What should we do first?" Ryuji asks.

"Let's go on the biggest rollercoaster!" Honda suggests enthusiastically.

"You'd better not throw up, since you eat like a horse," Katsuya jokes.

"There's no way I'll throw up besides, I only had 5 pancakes this morning." Everyone else just sweat drops. They then enter the area containing all of the rollercoasters. Bakura points out that the largest roller coaster is called shockwave and Honda immediately dashes towards the named ride.

After the gang had been on a series of rides, they all decide to go and eat. "This theme park is so much fun! Thank you for inviting us Bakura," Anzu smiles.

"No problem. I'm glad you're all enjoying yourselves."

"Here's your order sir," the waitress hands Honda over his oversized meal.

"So what's it this time piggy?" Katsuya mocks him whilst pulling his nose up to imitate a pig's snout.

"Shut your face Jonouchi. But if you insist, I ordered the yard long hotdog with extra chillies, extra onions and spicy sauce.

"Holy cow! It's huge!" Ryugi's mouth dropped as Honda undid the wrapped paper.

"Oh boy, this looks so good!" Honda then tucks into his hotdog.

"I'll go order our drinks" Yugi says has he stands up.

"I'll help you," Anzu offers as she follows Yugi.

Whilst the four were tucking into their food, Honda thought of an idea and a smirk rose to his face. "Hey. Let's get those two to ride the Ferris wheel together."

"Why?" Bakura asked confused.

"It seems Yugi needs a bit of help in putting a move on Anzu."

"But they're friends. Why would Yugi need to make a move on her?" Bakura was still completely oblivious to the fact that Yugi likes Anzu.

"They're friends now, but with a little help from us they won't be for much longer."

"Am I missing something here?"

"Didn't you know? Yugi likes Anzu in 'that' way," Katsuya clarifies.

"Since when? I never knew this! Did you Ryuji?"

"Yeah. Katsuya told me not long after I met you guys."

"Now I just feel stupid."

"Don't worry about it. Now you know."

"So let's get them two onto the Ferris wheel," Honda repeats.

Katsyua thought about it for a moment. He wasn't too sure whether they should be pushing Yugi into a situation that he's not ready for. Then again…

"Okay let's do it," Katsuya agrees. Ryuji and Bakura also nod in agreement. Before they started to discuss how they were going to get the two on the Ferris wheel, Yugi and Anzu had returned with the drinks.

"So what have you guys been talking about?" Anzu asks as she passes out the drinks.

"About how Honda has a small 'stick'" Katsuya begins to laugh.

"Bastard," Honda mutters under his breath.


	2. Ferris Wheel

**A/N: Chapter 2 has arrived! I found this chapter so much harder to write. I ended up writing the same amount as my first chapter though. I will try to make the next chapter much longer. I'm glad that I got a good response for my first chapter and so I will be continuing this story. I think I will update weekly for now, so I have time to write my next chapter. So please enjoy this chapter, and a review is always appreciated.**

* * *

Chapter 2: Ferris Wheel

The six friends have finished their food and are now currently leaving the café. "That hotdog was sure filling," Honda said whilst rubbing his tummy.

"You're such a pig you know. I bet the waitress even found you repulsive," Katsuya gags.

"Shut your face! At least I appreciate good food when I see it."

"Right…"

Yugi suggests that they all should go to the arcade area, since they've just eaten. They arrive at the third area of the theme park.

Katsuya notices the game 'hoops' and decides to show off his skills to the others. He slides his coins into the machine and the basket balls are released. The timer begins and Katsuya begins to score points one after the other. Yugi watches Katsuya in admiration, wishing that he could be more like him. When it comes to sports, Yugi isn't the best. The timer ends, and he managed to score 19 points out of 20.

"That was awesome Jonouchi!" Yugi applauses.

"Thanks Yugi. I'm the best in gym class for a reason you know."

"I'll have a go too," Bakura said and puts his coins into the machine.

"You're good at hoops Bakura?" Katsuya asks.

"Well, I haven't played basketball in a long time, so I'm not really sure." The basket balls are once again released and the timer sounds. He struggles to score at first, but after four throws he gets the hang of it. The timer ends again. Bakura scored 12 out of 20. "It seems that I'm not that good at this game," he says bashfully.

"What are you talking about? 12 out of 20 is pretty good for a novice," Honda compliments.

"Thank you Honda."

"I'm going to have a crack at the 'high striker', and see how strong I've gotten over the years," Ryuji points out the machine in the centre of the area. He and the others start to walk over to it.

Ryuji and his friends notice that a small crowd have gathered around the contraption. Confused, they walk up next to the crowd and see that a gang have gathered around it. The levels on the striker go from 1 to 10. One of the members, who appears to be the leader, was speaking to the audience. "Hello ladies and gentleman. I'm about to show you all how strong I really am, so get ready." The leader stands next the striker and swings the hammer down onto the lever. The puck reaches level 8, which is labelled strong. The crowd begin to cheer at his strength. Ryuji applauses him too and walks up to the leader.

"Can I have a go?" He asks politely, raising his arm for the hammer.

"Huh! You think you can beat me kid? It's not easy to get up to the level that I just did. But, since you've got guts I'll let you have a go," the gang leader passes Ryuji the hammer and steps back to the side.

"Go for it dude! Show him what you're made of," Honda shouts words of encouragement and the others cheer too. Ryuji nods and readies his position next to the lever. He places the hammer behind his head and then swings down the hammer onto the lever. In amazement, the bell sounds which specifies level 10. The level is labelled as being the strongest. The crowd gape in awe and applause him. Ryuji passes the hammer back to the gang leader who had also been applauding him.

"I have to admit that was pretty good. What's your name kid?"

"It's Ryuji Otogi, and thanks," he turns and walks back to Yugi and the others.

"Nice one man," Honda praises him as he patted his back.

"Thanks. So, where to next guys?"

"I'm thinking ring toss." Honda suggests. They all turn to leave but are stopped by the gang leader.

"Hold it!" The leader runs up to them and spots Yugi's presence. "Well, well, well, look at what we have here. It's the king of games, Yugi Mutou."

"You know of me?" Yugi asks.

"Yeah. You were the one who defeated Pegasus and Seto Kaiba at duel monsters. Say, why not have a go on the striker?" he challenges Yugi, offering him the hammer.

"No thank you. I'm not really good at this sort of thing."

"Oh I see. You're just another weakling then, who is only able of picking up a deck of cards," the leader mocks him and his crew start sniggering.

"Don't talk to him like that!" Katsuya spats at him.

"Why not? It's obvious by his stature that he's no good when it comes to physical strength. He probably doesn't do well with the ladies either, considering he's so short."

"I dare you to say that again!"

Anzu turns to Yugi. "You don't have to do it Yugi, just ignore those creeps."

 _But if I don't, I'll just remain weak and pathetic. And you won't…_

Yugi steps forward and takes the hammer from the leader, "fine. I accept your challenge," then walks over to the lever. He positions himself, the way that Ryuji did, and slowly brings the hammer behind his head. _Please reach a high level._ He pauses for a brief moment then quickly hits down on the lever. To dismay, the puck only reaches level 4, which has been labelled as powerless. The leader and his gang followed by the crowd begin to laugh.

"What was that? My mother could do better," the leader spurts out whilst he falls onto the grown, barely able to control his laughter.

"Shut up you jerks!" Honda yells at them. "He was just warming up."

"Just warming up? He looks knackered already. I can't believe that the king of games is a midget weakling."

Bakura rushes over to Yugi and places his hand on his shoulder. Yugi had by now dropped the hammer and his head was lowered. _Is this all I can do?_ "Don't worry about it Yugi, let's just go someplace else," Bakura reassures him. However, Yugi nudges him away and runs off.

"Wait Yugi!" Anzu shouts after him, but Yugi ignores her and continues on.

* * *

 _How embarrassing! I'm completely helpless without my 'other self'. And worst of all, Anzu saw how weak I was._ Yugi was now sitting on a bench, next to the second area of the theme park, his face in his palms. _She probably thinks that I'm still a little kid who is only able to rely on others._ _I hate myself._

Back at the arcade area, Katsuya and the others had moved away from the amused crowd and were now gathered near the 'hoops' game. "Damn it! I can't believe those scumbags!" Katsuya was fuming as he clenched his fist.

"Did anyone see which way Yugi went?" Ryuji asked.

"I think he headed towards this area's entrance," Bakura answered.

"Let's all split up and look for him," Anzu suggested. The boys agreed and they all went off to look for him. _I hope he hasn't left._

After roughly 5 minutes, Anzu stumbles upon Yugi. She calls for him but he doesn't respond to her. She decides to walk up to him and then joins him on the bench. She turns to face him. "How are you feeling?" He just remains quiet at her question. She continues to say, "Who cares what those creeps think, you're still the best at games and you know it. There's always going to be something that everyone isn't good at." Yugi removes his hands from his face and rests them on his thighs, still keeping quiet. The two remain silent for a while. Anzu thinks back to the times when Yugi was most confident. _I wonder if he's still struggling to cope without Atem. When the two of them duelled together, they were overwhelming. No one was able to defeat them. Yet, Yugi was able to surpass Atem. He needs to realise that he can be himself. He needs to understand that he's gotten much stronger._

Anzu stands up, causing Yugi to look up at her, "come on. Let's go and meet back up with the others."

"Okay," Yugi said and the two of them walk back.

Anzu texts Bakura to let them know that they will be by the water slide. Whilst they were waiting, Anzu pushes the boundaries and asks, "How are you coping without Atem?"

He pauses for a moment. "It's hard, knowing that I can't rely on him."

"I miss him," she states.

"Me too."

Bakura and the others finally catch up to them, all of them breathless from running. "Hey Yugi. I'm sorry, it was my fault that you had to do it. Besides, it was me who wanted to go on the striker in the first place." Ryuji apologies.

"Don't be stupid. It wasn't your fault," Katsuya argues.

"But still…I should take some of the blame."

"I don't blame you Otogi. It was probably silly of me to run away like that," Yugi thinks.

"I would have done the same thing," Katsuya reassures him, "but, if I see that a**hole again, I'll be sure to punch his lights out."

Moving the current conversation aside, Anzu asks, "Does anyone know what time it is?"

"It's four," Bakura said whilst looking at his watch.

"It's that late already!" Katsuya exclaims. "How about we call it a day?" Just as he asked that, Honda suddenly drags him, by the neck, to the side. "What the hell man! Are you trying to choke me to death?"

"Shhh! Have you forgotten? We still need to get those two to ride the Ferris wheel," Honda whispers.

"Oh right. I completely forgot," Katsuya thinks for a moment, "how are we supposed to do that though?"

"Just follow my lead," Honda lets go of him and re-joins the group, "Sorry about that guys. There's still one ride that I'm dying to go on." Honda starts to lead the way, "It's just up ahead." The others just shrug and follow suit.

Honda stops at the drop tower which is located next to the Ferris wheel. He motions Bakura to come over. He quickly mutters something to Bakura before saying, "me and Bakura will ride the drop tower, you guys go and wait by the Ferris wheel," Honda smiles and winks at Katsuya.

Katsuya sweat drops but nods in assurance, and the four of them walk towards the Ferris wheel. Katsuya was walking next to Ryuji and Anzu and Yugi were walking in front of them. Katsyua leans over to Ryuji and mutters, "you grab Anzu and I'll get Yugi. Confused at first by his remark, but Ryuji understood and nods in agreement. As they stood by the entrance to the Ferris wheel, Katsuya and Ryuji waited for an empty cart to come down. Once they saw an empty cart, they both quickly grabbed Anzu and Yugi.

"What are you guys doing!?" Anzu yelped as she was quickly tossed into the empty cart along with Yugi. Once Katsuya released Yugi, he quickly locked the cart from the outside.

"Let us out!" Anzu began bagging on the cart's window while Yugi stood wide eyed, looking at Katsuya. He gives Yugi the thumbs up and he and Ryuji walk away. When they left, the Ferris wheel began, causing Anzu to stumble backwards. She slumps down on the seat and Yugi takes the seat opposite to her.

"I can't believe those idiots. Suddenly grabbing us and locking us up in here. I swear, once this ride is over, they're going to get it!" Anzu moans.

The two didn't speak for a while. Yugi began to think. _Why did they do that? They must have planned this beforehand. I can't believe Jonouchi would get me alone with Anzu like this… hold on, we're so close together!_ Their knees were almost touching. Yugi's heart began to speed up. He looks up to find Anzu looking out of the window, her chin resting on her hand. _She's so pretty…_

Anzu turns her head to Yugi and notice that he's looking at her. "What is it?" she questions.

He snaps out of his daze, "Oh it's nothing," he explains whilst waving his hands, "you just seem to have something on your mind."

She looks down briefly, then back to him. "Actually, I was thinking about the time when we went to that water park."

"Oh yeah, that was fun."

"Yeah it was. But, I specifically remember when I was in danger. I was on the Ferris wheel and there was bombs attached to it. Luckily, Atem, or your 'other self' back then, saved me. I suppose you don't remember though, as at the time you weren't aware of your 'other self'."

"Yes I wasn't aware at the time. But thanks to him you weren't hurt." _Of course she would be thinking of him…_ He began to feel sick. _Why does she keep bringing him up? Maybe she still likes him that way. Ugh, it hurts thinking about it._

The cart they were in finally came back round, and the two of them got out. They see that the other four were waiting next to the drop tower. Katsuya sees the two of them and waves at them. "Did you two have fun?" Only to receive a bashing on the head, by Anzu, in response. She also bashes Ryuji on the head.

"Why did you hit me?" Ryuji asks her.

"Because you were the one who grabbed me and chucked me into the cart, you jerk!" She yells at him.

"But it was Honda's idea in the first place."

"Oh really…?" They all turn to look at Honda who had unexpectedly run off. "Come back here Honda!" And then she dashed after him.

"Man she's strong," Ryuji said whilst he rubbed his head, "so, how did it go?"

"Okay," Yugi simply states.

"What do you mean by okay?" Katsuya questions.

"Well…nothing happened."

"What do you mean nothing happened?! We helped you two to get alone and you didn't even try to make a move on her?"

"I couldn't. I've already told you that she doesn't like me that way."

"And I already told you that how could you possibly know that?"

"I just know all right!" The two of them went quiet for a moment.

"Did she say something?"

Yugi just nods and begins to walk in the direction that Honda and Anzu went. "Are we missing something here?" Ryuji asks.

"No. It's nothing. Tsk, this is what pisses me off about him. Why can't he just man up and ask her out? If he doesn't act soon someone else will steal her away."

Bakura checks his watch again, "maybe it's best that we leave it for today Jonouchi."

"Fine. Let's just go."


	3. Assignment

**A/N: Chapter 3 is now up! Phew. This one took a while, but I've done it. I managed to make this chapter longer so, well done to me! I've been receiving a lot of positive comments and I'm glad that, only after 2 chapters, you all want me to continue. Yay! So, please enjoying reading the latest chapter and a review is always appreciated.**

* * *

Chapter 3: Assignment

"Hurry up you layabouts! My mother could run quicker than you!" That was the yelling from the irritating coach. He decided today, that the boys would run 15 laps straight. If they failed to comply, then they would be forced to do 100 push ups on the spot. Honda, who hated running, was keeping his pace down. He was currently running behind Katsuya, Yugi and Ryuji, whilst Bakura was running next to him.

"I hate running. It's not even fun," Honda muttered under his breath.

"If you complain Honda, the coach will force you to do push ups," Bakura warns him, "so, I would avoid bad mouthing, if I were you."

"Tsk. It's unfair. How come the girls get to play tennis?"

"They have a different coach to us."

"Hey Bakura!" Katsuya shouts back to him, barely breathing. "How many more laps have we got?"

"5".

"Oh, come on!"

Once the class had finished 15 laps, the coach yelled to them, yet again. "Class is finished! Now hurry up back inside and get to your next class!" As soon as he had finished speaking, the whole class had virtually left.

The boys were now in the locker room, currently changing back into their uniforms. "I wish I could watch the girls playing instead," Katsuya dreamily says.

"You do realise that it wouldn't just be a beating from the coach, but from Anzu as well," Ruyji tells him.

"I don't care! I'd rather a girl hit me, instead of that sorry excuse for a coach."

Ryuji just rolls his eyes at his statement. He begins to open his sport locker, when he notices that Honda has come right next to him. Honda oddly begins to smell Ryuji, causing him to jump back. "Whoa dude! What the hell are you doing?"

"What cologne are you using?" He asks simply.

"What?"

"Are you deaf or something? I asked what cologne you're using." He repeats.

"Huh? I'm not wearing any cologne at the moment. And don't go around randomly sniffing me, stupid."

"I was just asking! I liked the smell that's all, and I thought it was you who was wearing it."

"Well, it's not me. Now could move away."

"Well, excuse me!" He turns to face Katsuya.

"Don't come and start smelling me, piggy." Katsuya tells him.

"I wasn't going to. You smell all the time anyway."

"I don't smell. Besides, I don't want you smelling me whilst I'm topless."

"So he can smell you at other times then," Ryuji teases.

"Shut up Otogi! You know what I mean."

"By the way, have you been working out recently Jonouchi?" Ryuji points to his arms, noticing that he's gotten a few more muscles.

"Yeah. I've started to go to the gym."

 _The gym?_ Yugi thinks to himself. _Maybe I should join a gym too. After all, I still need to get stronger._

"At least I'm sturdier than you," Honda starts stretching, to show off.

"Piss off!"

Honda walks next to him, so that he is in between Katsuya and Yugi. Whilst he continues to show off in front of Katsuya, his nose picks up the scent again. He turns to look at Yugi, who had finished changing. He leans down to his level and starts sniffing Yugi. Startled by his friends' unexpected action, Yugi jumps back away from him. "What do you want Honda? Why are you smelling me?" Yugi asks him, confused.

"For god's sake Honda! Stop smelling everyone." Ryuji says.

"Ah ha! It's you who's wearing that cologne."

Yugi looks up at Honda. "Oh. Yeah, I bought a new cologne the other day."

"What's the brand?"

Yugi fetches the bottled cologne from his bag and shows him. "Polo red. I liked the scent, so I bought it."

"Why didn't you just say it was you who had the cologne on?"

"I don't know," Yugi puts the bottle back into his bag. He doesn't really want to tell them that he bought it for Anzu's sake. Besides, it was a lot of spending out of his pocket money.

Honda raises an eyebrow and makes a funny face. "Is that so Anzu will notice you more?" He teases Yugi.

Yugi freaks out at the remark, as if he had just read his mind, and says, "No! It's got nothing to do with her."

"You're a terrible liar," Ryuji steps in. "I happen to know that that specific brand of cologne has been very popular with girls."

"Again, it has nothing to do with that," Yugi repeats himself. "I just don't want to stink of sweat."

Bakura, who had been eavesdropping, asks Ryuji, "How do you know that cologne is popular with girls?"

"Yeah Otogi. How'd you know?" Honda asks him comically, whilst smirking.

Ryuji gives Honda a dirty look, then turns to face Bakura. "I heard about it in class. The girls were saying that they liked it when boys wore it."

"So you were spying on the girls."

"I wasn't spying on them."

The boys, apart from Yugi, continued to change, until Honda broke the silence. "So Yugi, when are you going to marry her?"

"I'm not marrying her!" Yugi argues.

"Why not?" Ryuji questions, "She's got a great body you know. And her chest is nice too."

Yugi blushes slightly. "Don't talk about Anzu like that! She's more than just an object."

"Whoa, calm down. I was just saying she's got nice features is all."

"Aww he's so protective of her," Honda puts his arm around Ryuji, and they begin giggling like a bunch of idiots.

At that moment, the coach returns. "What are you ladies still doing here? Hurry up and get lost!"

Their next class is social studies. Their teacher is currently explaining an assignment, which the students must complete in pairs. "This assignment is worth 20% of your overall grade. You will have one month to research a topic of your choosing, from the list that I will provide for you. You will need to create your own question related to your topic, and you must present your findings accordingly. You will be graded on the amount of research you have collected, your evidence and how well you present your findings. I will now give you all the topics which you can select from, and you can choose who you'd like to work with."

Anzu leans from her seat to Yugi. "Do you want to work together?" She asks him.

"Um, sure." He shyly replies.

Bakura and Ryuji had decided to pair up, which means that Katsuya and Honda are forced to pair up. "Why do I have to work with you? Piggy." Katsuya moans.

"Shut up! I don't want to work with you either," Honda argues back. "And if you think that I'll be doing most of the work, then you can forget it."

"Ditto."

As the teacher finished handing out the list of topics, the bell sounded. "Okay everyone, class is dismissed."

Yugi began to pack his stationary away. He got up to leave, but Anzu quickly stopped him. "Hold on a moment Yugi."

"What is it?" He asks her.

"I was wondering if I could go to your place after. So we could make a start on the assignment."

 _She wants to come to mine?_ "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

"Okay then. I will meet you at the entrance once school ends."

"Okay."

Anzu left the classroom. Just as Yugi was about to leave, Honda stopped him by grabbing his shoulders. "What's this? She's coming back to your place? Good going Yugi."

Yugi removes himself from Honda's grasp. "We're just going to be working on the assignment."

"Is that all?"

"Yes."

"What are you two still standing around for?" Katsuya walks up next to them. "We still have one more period to go."

"Did you hear Katsuya? Anzu's going to Yugi's house later," Honda explains, with a stupid grin on his face.

Katsuya winks at Yugi, whilst giving him the thumbs up. "Good going Yugi."

Yugi face palms. "Not you too Jonouchi. She's only coming over so we can start to work on the assignment." He turns and starts walking to his next class, only to hear Katsuya shouting.

"You'd better hide all of your dirty videos that I lent you Yugi!"

"Jonouchi!"

* * *

The end of school came sooner than expected. Yugi was presently waiting for Anzu at the school's entrance. _It's been a while since she came to my place. I can't even remember the last time she came over._ Knocking him out of his thoughts, Anzu arrived next to him.

"Shall we go? She says with a smile. He nods and they start walking to the game shop.

Whilst they were walking, Yugi turns to ask her, "Which topic should we study?"

"I'm not sure. Let me check the list." She removes her bag from around her shoulders and opens it, to retrieve the list of topics that the teacher gave them. Skimming through the list, one topic catches her eye. "How about the one on drugs. We could possibly look at the negative effects of illegal drugs."

"That sounds like a good idea," Yugi thinks, "It may also be useful to understand the harm that illegal drugs to do us."

"Shall we do that then?"

"Yeah, let's do that."

A few minutes later, the two arrive at the game shop. "I'm home!" Yugi announces, as he and Anzu walk in through the door.

"Welcome home Yugi," his grandpa walks in from the living room, "Oh, I see Anzu is here as well. It's nice to see you again."

"Thank you. It's nice to see you again Mr. Mutou" She politely says.

"We're working on an assignment together," Yugi explains to him.

"I see. Would you like to stay for dinner Anzu? I'm making yakisoba." Sugoroku offers.

"Yes, I'd love to," she agrees.

"I'll call you two when it's ready," and with that, Sugoroku leaves them for the kitchen.

Yugi turns to Anzu. "Do you want to do it in my room?" Realising what he just said, he quickly says, "I m-mean the assignment."

She pulls a puzzled face, completely oblivious to his wording. "Sure. We won't be interrupted by your grandpa then."

"I'll get my laptop. You go on up." He then goes into the living room to find his laptop. _I can't believe I just said that! How did she not notice? Well, I'm glad she didn't apprehend it._ He managed to find his laptop, which was somehow hidden under the sofa, and he goes to join Anzu.

He opens his bedroom door to find Anzu lying on his bed. He nearly dropped his laptop at the sight of her. She had her hands behind her head, which was resting on his pillow, and she was staring at the celling. Her knees were slightly bent, and so he was forcing himself not to catch a glimpse of her underwear. _I can't believe she's lying on my bed like that! Stop it Yugi! Calm down already, Anzu's been in your room before._

Anzu looks at him and gets up from her current position. She sits down, with her legs hanging off the bed. "So, how should we start the assignment?" She asks.

Yugi snaps out of his thoughts of her. "We could first look at drug class types, in order to establish which ones are legal and illegal."

"Okay."

He sets his laptop down on his desk and switches it on.

Anzu asks him, "Do you have another chair?"

"Yes, I'll get one for you." He goes and gets her a chair from his grandpa's room. He comes back into the bedroom and sets the chair down next to his.

She removes herself from his bed and sits next to him. Once the laptop was on the desktop screen, Yugi opens the web explorer and begins browsing. As he does so, she smells the cologne that he is wearing. Curious, she asks him, "Are you trying to impress someone?"

"W-what?" He stammers.

"The cologne you're wearing. It's polo red."

"Oh. I got this because I liked the smell."

"That's odd. Usually guys who wear that are trying to pick up girls."

"Is that so?" Yugi keeps quiet for a moment. "Do you like it?"

"Yes, it's nice." She smiles.

After hearing that, Yugi felt warm inside. _I'm so glad I bought this stuff._

After a few minutes of researching, Anzu suggests that they look for some videos associated with the topic. She reaches to touch the touchpad, only to feel Yugi's hand instead. His pulse begins to race at the sudden feel of Anzu's palm. "Sorry!" She quickly apologies and removes her hand from his.

"That's okay," he says timidly, avoiding her gaze.

She thinks to herself, _his hand is a lot bigger and softer than a thought…_

He removes his hand from the touchpad to let her browse. She places her hand onto the touchpad, but notices the low battery sign in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. "You might want to plug in the charger. We only have 15% battery remaining."

"Okay," he complies and places the charger into the laptop and switches on the socket. "By the way, why did you ask me to be my partner?" He asks suddenly.

She turns to look at him and pauses her browsing. "Why? Well, that's because we work well together. Would you of rather have gone with Jonouchi or…?"

He interrupts her, "No! It's not that…"

"What is it then?"

"I just… didn't think you would've wanted to of worked with me."

"Why would you think that?"

"I don't know," he answers slowly.

"Don't be silly. You're one of my closet friends, of course I would want to work with you." She reassures him with a smile.

"Yugi, Anzu! Dinner is ready!" Sugrokou calls to them.

Anzu quickly jumps up from her seat. "Great! I'm so hungry." She quickly turns around to move away from the desk but Yugi suddenly grabs her arm.

"Wait a mo…"

But it was already too late. Anzu had tripped on the cable, that was behind her chair. She held onto him, dragging him down with her. She falls onto her back with him on his fours, on top of her. She opens her eyes, which she previously had closed due to the fall, to find him looking down on her, eyes wide. "I'm s-sorry," Anzu stutters, "I didn't mean to drag you down with me."

"No it's my fault!" He exclaims. "I should've told you that I had to put the cable behind your chair." _Oh my god! Anzu's underneath me! I can die happy now._

She noticed that he had one of his legs positioned in between both of her legs, with his palms on either side of her head. _Why hasn't he moved yet?_ Turning her head to the side, to conceal her blush, she bashfully asked him, "C-could you possible get off me now?"

Realising their situation, Yugi quickly and carefully removes himself from her. "S-sorry." She sits up to regain her composure. "Let's go downstairs."

She nods in approval, still avoiding to look at him, until her blush went.

The two of them arrive downstairs in the dining area. Sugoroku comes out from the kitchen. "Can I have some help Yugi? Anzu you can sit down." Yugi nods and follows his grandpa into the kitchen, whilst Anzu seats herself at the table.

Sugoroku hands Yugi the drinks to place on the table. He turns to walk away, only to hear his grandpa chuckling. "What's funny?" Yugi asks, confused.

"Oh, it's just that. I'm sorry for interrupting you two," he explains, still sniggering.

"That's okay. We managed to get most of the research that we needed."

"I'm not talking about your assignment. I mean, I'm sorry for interrupting you. You know, from 'messing around'."

Yugi's jaw dropped at his grandpa's accusation. "Grandpa! We weren't doing anything like that!" He began blushing at the thought of it.

"Well I thought you were, because I heard a loud thump."

"I accidently dropped my laptop," he lied. "Besides, me and Anzu are just friends."

"But, do you just want to be friends with her?"

He didn't reply to his grandpa's question, and with that he left the kitchen with the drinks. He re-joins Anzu in the dining room and begins to place the drinks onto the table. "It's green tea. Is that okay?"

"Yes, that's fine. Thank you."

Once Sugoroku bought out the food, Yugi and Anzu thanked him for the meal and they all began eating. The three of them engaged in conversation. Sugoroku was explaining to them that he will be attending an exhibition this weekend, associated with ancient Egypt. "Do you mind managing the shop on Sunday Yugi? I've asked your mother to take care of it on Friday and Saturday."

"Sure grandpa," Yugi agrees.

"Thank you. I'll be back for the afternoon, so you only need to manage it in the morning."

"Okay."

"Say, why don't you have Anzu help you?"

"Hmm? Me?" She asks, puzzled.

"Sure. I don't see why not. Unless you're busy?"

She thinks for a moment. "No, I'm not doing anything this Sunday."

"That's great. You can keep Yugi company." At that statement, he looks at Yugi, whilst giving him a wink. Yugi just rolls his eyes at his grandpa's childish act. _Great. Now my grandpa is trying to set me up with her._

"Is that all right with you Yugi?" She questions.

"Yes of course!" He says somewhat surprised. He realises at the corner of his eye, his grandpa pulling a wide grin. _Grandpa…_

"Thank you for the meal Mr. Mutou," Anzu says whilst rubbing her tummy. "It was so filling."

"I'm glad you liked it," Sugoroku said satisfied.

She looks at the clock on the wall. "I have to go home now." She explains as she stands up. "Thank you for having me."

"It was nice to have you. Even though it was just for your assignment." Sugoroku smiles at her. "Please do come again."

"I will."

"Shall I walk you home?" Yugi offers as they are walking to the door.

She shakes her head, "I'm fine thank you. My house isn't that far from yours." Yugi steps in front of her and opens the door for her. She steps out onto the steps. "Goodbye. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah. Goodbye." Yugi waves to her.

As she reached the last step leading up to the game shop, she turns back up to him. "We should walk home together more often. We haven't done so in a while."

"Yes we should," he agrees, "Do you want to walk to school together as well?"

She smiles, "Sure. I'll meet you here tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," he smiles back.

She waves to him and starts walking down the street to her house. Once she was far enough away, she let a blush form over her cheeks. _I dragged him down on me! What was a thinking? I just grabbed him right then and there. But… he didn't seem fazed by it._ She then becomes annoyed. _Maybe he doesn't see me as a 'girl'._ She smiles awkwardly, "idiot."


	4. To Get Stronger

**A/N: Chapter 4 is now up! Yay, more positive reviews from you guys. I'm glad you're all enjoying it so far. However, the journey has only just begun. I'm sorry for posting this chapter a day late! I hope you guys can forgive me. Not a lot to say at this point, so I hope you enjoy the latest chapter. Again, a review is always appreciated.**

* * *

Chapter 4: To Get Stronger

The sound of the alarm echoes in Anzu's bedroom. She was already awake, before her alarm sounded. She was very sleep deprived. Her eyes were red, the bed covers on the floor and when she blinked her eyes, it would make her head ache. She begins to fantasise about Yugi falling on top of her, completely different to what actually occurred yesterday. _Stop it brain! I can't think about things like that._ Moaning to herself, she gets up slowly and then turns off her alarm on her bedside table. She begins to get ready for school. Looking at herself in the mirror, she notices how red her eyes are. _Maybe a splash of cold water will help._

Once she'd finished changing, she walked downstairs to join her mother in the kitchen. "Good morning darling," her mother greets with a wide smile.

"Morning," Anzu replies roughly. She settles for toast and orange juice, and sits herself down at the table.

Her mother notes her daughter's unusual, sluggish behaviour. "You're usually bright and awake in the morning."

"I didn't get much sleep last night," she explains, whilst munching on her toast.

"Is it to do with a boy?" She teases.

Anzu starts coughing, as she nearly choked on her breakfast. "No!"

"I was just kidding darling. But then again… your reaction says otherwise."

"It's nothing." Anzu quickly finishes her breakfast and leaves for the door.

He mother shouts, "have a good day at school darling!"

 _Honestly mother… That's the first idea you think of? Well, it is true… but I can't tell her that, she'll pester me all day._ She sighs to herself. _This is why I need more female friends. I don't have anyone I could talk to about this stuff._

Anzu finds Yugi already waiting for her outside of the game shop. "Morning Anzu," Yugi greets her as she walks up to him.

"Good morning," she responds and they begin walking to school.

Anzu begins yawning heavily and she quickly covers her mouth. "Did you have trouble sleeping last night?" Yugi asks.

"Yes," she simply states. She was mentally trying to suppress her inappropriate thoughts, since that was what kept her up all night.

"I had trouble sleeping too."

"Really? How come?"

"I don't know. It was just one of those nights I suppose."

The two of them arrive at school and head for the classroom. They both enter together. Honda, who was already there, notice the too walk in together. "Here comes the 'item.'" At that comment, Katsuya rapidly grabs him.

"Keep quiet idiot," he whispers.

Honda pushes Katsuya off him. "You want to go Jonouchi!"?

"Sure! I'll knock you out in a second!"

Ignoring the two arguing, Bakura greets Yugi and Anzu. "Good morning. It seems Honda and Jonouchi are lively as ever."

"It would seem so," Yugi says. He looks around for Ryuji. "Where is Otogi?"

"He's running late." At that point, the homeroom teacher enters the classroom and everyone moves to their seats.

The homeroom teacher explains that there will be a new transfer student joining their class. "I want you all to make our new student feel welcome. Mr Jonouchi!"

The whole class turn to Katsuya, finding him with his head face down on his desk. He abruptly lifted his head at the teacher calling him. "Yes sir?"

"Would you like to repeat what I had just said to the class?"

He ponders for a moment. "Umm…that my fly is undone?" The teacher quickly looks down. The rest of the class begin to snigger. Fortunately, his zipper was fine.

"Watch your attitude Jonouchi! Or would you rather spend detention with your coach?"

"No sir." He slouches back in his seat.

"Now then, I will introduce your new student. You can enter now," the homeroom teacher ushers in the new student. The girls in the classroom, apart from Anzu, started squealing in excitement. The student was a very attractive male, with the face of the model.

He bows and introduces himself. "My name is Shinji Kitagawa. It's nice to meet you all. I hope we'll all be able to get along."

Just at that moment, Ryuji bursts into the classroom, panting. "And where have you been Mr Otogi?" The teacher asks him, irritated.

"I have no excuse. I overslept," he explains, trying to regain his breath.

"I see. You will stay behind at the end of the day, and you will clean this entire classroom by yourself." Ryuji understands and goes to his seat. "I'm sorry Mr Kitagawa for Mr Otogi's rude manners."

"That's quite all right sir."

"Now, I will allocate you to the seat next to Miss Mazaki." Shinji nods and walks to his seat. He sits down and places his stationary on the desk. Once he'd finished, he politely greeted Anzu with a smile.

"Hello Mazaki. It's nice to meet you."

"Hi, and you too Kitagawa," she also responds with a smile. For some reason, this made Yugi, who had been watching them two, a little jealous. After all, he was a lot better looking than he was.

The bell rang, indicating break time. The teacher asks Anzu for a word briefly. "Yes sir?" She questions.

"I have a favour to ask of you. Would you be kind enough to show our new student around?"

"Of course sir."

"Thank you Mazaki."

She goes to Shinji and explains to him that she'll be showing him around the school. He thanks her, and they go and leave the classroom. Yugi watches them leave together. _Why am I letting this bother me? She's only showing him around like any good student would._

"Is someone a little jealous?" Katsuya suddenly springs up in front of Yugi.

"Of course not," Yugi argues.

"By the way Yugi…" Honda buts into the conversation, "what happened yesterday? If you know what I mean."

"Me and Anzu worked on the assignment. Like I said we would."

Honda falls animatedly. "Are you kidding man?! Not even any hot making out?"

Yugi blushes a little at that comment. "No! We're only friends Honda."

"Something must have happened between you two. I mean, you walked into school together this morning."

"We walked to school together before. So that's nothing new."

Honda begins to smirk, putting that last comment beside. "Oh I see now. You couldn't do anything. After all, your grandpa was home."

"Knock it off already Honda!" Yugi starts getting annoyed.

Bakura and Ryuji joins them, seeing Yugi getting irritated. "What are you guys discussing?" Bakura asks.

"How Yugi still can't get with Anzu." Honda tells them.

"Yugi isn't the type to do anything that would make her uncomfortable," he explains.

Yugi then has a flashback to when he was positioned on top of Anzu. _Not now brain!_ This causes him to blush and fidget a little. The others all notice Yugi's sudden change of behaviour.

Ryuji smiles curiously. "What are you nervous for all of a sudden?"

Katsuya swiftly grabs Yugi by the shoulders and starts shaking him. "You're hiding something aren't you?! Something did happen didn't it?"

 _Damn! What do I say? I can't tell them about 'that' incident. They'll never shut up about it._ He tries to think of something to say. "Well, I'm minding the game shop this Sunday and Anzu is coming over to help."

"So that's it." Katsuya lets go of Yugi.

"Would you like me to help too?" Bakura asks, unknowingly. Honda bashes him on the head. "Ow! What was that for Honda?"

"Are you stupid or something? This gives them a chance to be on their own."

"What? I don't…Oh." He only clicks on at that point.

On the other end of the school, Anzu is currently showing Shinji the sports hall. Shinji is currently staring with amazement. "This place is impressive. It's so much bigger, compared to my old school. I'm really into sports you see. I was the champion at fencing at my old school." He explains, smugly.

"I'm impressed Kitagawa. That's a real talent you've got there." She realises that they've been gone a while. "We should head back to class. Our next period will be starting shortly."

"Okay," he agrees and they begin to head back to the classroom. Whilst walking back, he asks her, "Are you seeing anybody Mizaki?"

She looks at him briefly. "No, I'm not," she states.

"Do you want to go for coffee this Sunday?"

"Sorry, I can't. I'm spending it with my friend."

"I see." He ends the conversation there and surely enough, they arrive back at class.

At the end of class, Yugi quickly gets his things together and rushes out of the classroom, not even saying goodbye to his friends. Anzu asks Katsuya why Yugi went off like that.

"Beats me," he says. "Probably wanted to avoid piggy over here." He points to Honda.

"Shut your face Jonouchi! And stop calling me that!"

"What? Piggy?"

"Yes! That!"

"Why should I? It suits you perfectly."

Honda grabs him roughly. "That's it! I'm going to punch your face out!"

Ryuji sighs. "Knock it off you two. You're acting like a bunch of children."

They both cross their arms and turn away from each other. "Well I'm going home." Katsuya states. "Don't bother walking with me, piggy."

"I wasn't going to! And I told you not to call me that!"

"Sometimes I wonder why they're friends," Bakura says to Ryuji. "They seem to argue a lot."

"That's just the way they are," Ryuji explains. He places his foot on one of the chairs, to tie one of his shoe laces that came undone. "You should go home as well Bakura. I have to stay and clean up remember."

"I wish I could help out." Bakura grabs his bag. "See you tomorrow Otogi…" Bakura notices, whilst Ryuji is tying his shoe lace, a dark bruise on Ryuji's ankle. "Um…Otogi."

Ryuji looks at him, finishing his lace off. "What's up?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Try not to be too long, okay?"

"Sure."

Bakura leaves the classroom, thinking about how Ryuji got that bruise. _I wonder if he got into a fight on his way to school. Maybe that's why he was late. Or maybe not. I'm sure Otogi would have told us if he got into any trouble._

Yugi is currently running out of the school's entrance. _I'm sorry Anzu, but I don't want you or the others to know where I'm going._ He finally stops running. He has stopped at the local gym, which wasn't too far from the game shop. _Why am I doing this?_ He questions to himself. _I just hope Katsuya doesn't attend the gym on Mondays._ Yugi slowly enters the building. He begins to feel ashamed by how weak he is going to be. _No, I shouldn't let it bother me. Everyone has to start somewhere._

He changes into his sports gear, in the locker room. He fetches his water bottle and heads for the gym. He sees that there are a lot of body builders, who were a lot taller and bigger than him. _Just ignore them._ He decides to start with the dumbbells to warm up.

After an hour of working out, he goes and collapses on one of the side benches, panting to himself. _I didn't think it would be this hard._ He looks at his hand and notice how much it's shaking, due to the strain. He sighs to himself and finishes his last drops of water. After regaining all of his breath, he heads back for the locker room. He decides to take a shower at home.

Before he was about to leave, he overhead someone. "Pretending to be a high school student? That's a bit risky to get a catch, even for you Kitagawa."

 _Did he just say Kitagawa?_ Yugi listens and looks for where the voice was coming from. He manages to find who was speaking. He notices that Shinji was there speaking with the gang leader, from that time when he and his friends went to that new theme park. _Why is Shinji talking to him? And what's this about pretending to be a high school student?_ Yugi positions himself behind one of the lockers, so he can continue listening.

Shinji begins talking. "Well you see, I've spotted a good catch this time. It won't be long until I get it."

 _By 'catch' does he mean one of the girls in our school? He couldn't mean…_

"So what did you say to impress her?" The gang leader asks him.

"That I was a champion at fencing in my old school. She even said that she was impressed by it," Shinji says cockily.

"What a bad boy you are." The leader then leaves him and walks out of the locker room. Not too long after, Shinji also leaves.

Yugi begins panicking. _He must have meant Aznu! Just who really are these guys?!_ Yugi rushes home, once he was sure that they had left. As soon as he arrived home, he burst through the door. Before he hurried to his room, his grandpa stopped him.

"Where have you been Yugi? You didn't tell me you were going to be late today."

Yugi also didn't tell his grandpa about starting the gym. "I was hanging out with Jonouchi and Honda. Sorry I didn't tell you earlier," he lies. Before his grandpa could say anymore, Yugi hurried to his bedroom. He picks up his phone, to call Katsuya, but then stops. He realises that he would have to tell him that he went to the gym. _I can't tell the others either! What am I supposed to do now?!_

* * *

Morning arises, and Yugi is just leaving the game shop. He sees that Anzu was waiting for him. "Hi. Morning Anzu," he greets.

"Hi. Yugi…why did you run off after last period yesterday?" She asks, concerned.

"Grandpa wanted me home quite early, so that I could help him with something." He lies. "Sorry I couldn't walk home with you."

"That's okay. I just thought someone may have troubled you."

"No I'm okay. Shall we go?"

She nods and they walk to school. Yugi thinks to himself about what happened yesterday at the gym. He doesn't know how to warn Anzu that Kitagawa is actually a pseudo student, and that she could possibly be in danger. Also, he doesn't have any evidence that could prove this. So telling the homeroom teacher would be pointless.

Anzu looked at Yugi, realising he was thinking very hard. "Is something on your mind?"

Yugi looks at her and shakes his head. "Nope. I just remembered that we haven't worked on our assignment again."

"Oh yeah. I forgot about it too." She thinks momentarily. "How about we work on it during lunch?"

"Okay," he approves.

They almost arrive at the schools gates. Anzu sighs disappointingly. "I can't believe we got here so fast."

Yugi suddenly stops walking. Anzu, confused, who was ahead of him, stopped too and turned to face him. He unexpectedly spats out. "I do have something on my mind!"

Anzu doesn't reply straight away. "You do? Well, why didn't you say before when I asked?"

 _Why did I just yell that out? Great…there's no avoiding her now._ "I don't know…I just…" he mumbles. "Anzu. Do you…um…like Kitagawa?"

"Like him?"

"I mean…since he looks like the popular type." _What am I on about now?! I'm supposed to warn her, not ask about her opinion of him._

Anzu thinks. _Is Yugi perhaps jealous? No, he couldn't be._ "He seems nice, but I don't like him that way, if that's what you meant." Yugi relaxes a little. "Why do you want to know?"

Yugi then tenses a bit. "I was just wondering. No real reason. He just doesn't seem like the trustworthy type is all."

"Oh now I get it. You're worried about me."

"I guess so…" he rubs the back of his head, bashfully.

She smiles at him. "That's sweet of you Yugi, but don't worry. I won't mix with the wrong crowd. Now come on, let's go and meet the others."

He agrees and they arrive at the gates. _I hope now she'll be more wary of him. But in the meantime, I need to figure out how I'm going to prove he's a fake student._


	5. To Protect You

**A/N: Chapter 5 is here! Yahoo! My reviews have made it to double digits. Thank you all so much guys for the support. Now let's maybe make it to 50 reviews? This is my longest chapter so far. Hooray for longer chapters! Do you guys prefer this length? Or shorter? Let me know in your review. So, yeah. Enjoy the latest chapter and as always, a review is much appreciated.**

* * *

Chapter 5: To Protect You

Yugi and Anzu arrive at their shoe lockers. Yugi opens his locker and takes out his indoor shoes. Anzu does the same. However, she sees that there is a letter inside her locker. She turns to look at Yugi, who was busy tying his laces. She picks up the letter, tears it open, and reads it. It states, " _Meet me on the roof at the start of lunch. From your secret admirer."_

"Anzu?" Yugi says. Anzu jumps slightly, she hides the note from him.

"Yes Yugi?" She responds.

"Are you ready to go? You've been staring at your locker for a while."

"I was just daydreaming," she quickly puts the letter into her bag, "I'm ready now." The two of them then head to their classroom. On the way, Anzu thinks of whom could have written that note. _I wonder who my secret admirer could be. Unless, it's just Honda and Jonouchi playing a practical joke on me again. I mean, I don't know of anyone who may like me._ She looks at Yugi, with the corner of her eye. _I wonder if Yugi wrote that letter…_

The two go to class. As they enter, Honda, yet again, makes his childish remarks. "Here comes the…ugh!" Jonouchi has, again, grabbed Honda.

"Shut up already! Don't go repeating yourself, piggy."

"I'll say what I want!" He shouts to him.

"Be quiet!" Anzu yells at them two, causing them both to flinch. "Honestly! All I hear when I come into this classroom, is you two yapping like a bunch of idiots!" She slams her backpack on her desk. "If I hear you two again, I'll knock your teeth out! Got it?!"

"Yes ma'am…" they both say in unison.

After that, Ryuji enters. "Hi everyone," he greets.

"Morning Otogi," Bakura replies, "It's good to see that you're on time today."

"Yeah. I made sure my alarm was on, this time." He sets down his bag next to his desk. He walks to the others, who were gathered around Anzu's desk.

"By the way," she begins, "I'm not falling for your trick Jonouchi."

"What trick?" He asks, confused.

She crosses her arms. "You know. The one you did with Honda this morning."

"I have no idea what you're on about."

"You can play dumb all you want."

"Look, I'm telling you I don't know what you're…" He quickly stops, as Honda quietly tells him not to argue with her, as she'll probably just kill them. Jonouchi sighs, "Okay, fine. Whatever you say Anzu." Jonouchi goes to his seat.

"Do you know what they were on about?" Bakura asks Yugi, who was listening to the conversation from his desk.

"No, I don't," he honestly says.

"Oh well, It's probably not important," Ryuji says.

Yugi watches the classroom door, as Shinji just walked in. He keeps a close watch on him, all the way to his desk.

* * *

"Lunchtime!" Honda happily exclaims, as he digs into his oversized proportion of burger and chips. He was currently sat with Jonouchi, Bakura and Ryuji, all of whom were eating their normal sized proportions.

"Jeez Honda, you should enter a food contest or something," Ryuji suggests, half-serious.

"You think so?" He says, with his mouth full of food, causing Ryuji to look away from him.

"Why not? Besides, it's probably the only talent you've got," Katsuya mocks him.

Honda slams his fist on the table, which causes Bakura's food to fly into his face. "I dare you to say that again!"

"Look what you did piggy! Bakura's face is covered in sauce," he points out, as Bakura wipes his face.

"That's all right. No harm done," Bakura says.

"Sometimes, I think you're just a little too nice Bakura," Ryuji comments, "You and Yugi are alike in that way."

"Speaking of Yugi, where is he?" Katsuya asks.

As if on que, Yugi runs into the cafeteria. He rushes over to his friends.

"Speak of the devil. What took you so long?" Honda asks him.

Yugi regained his breath, before he spoke. "Have any of you seen Anzu?"

They all thought for a moment. "We haven't, sorry. What did you need her for?" Ryuji says.

"We were supposed to work on our assignment now. But, I can't find her anywhere."

Honda raises his eyebrows. "You're going to do 'it' at school? That's a bit bold of you Yugi."

"Where else would we…" Yugi's cheeks start to turn pink, "That's not funny Honda!"

Honda bursts out laughing. "You're so slow at these things."

"Guys I'm serious. I need to find her as soon as possible," Yugi starts to fret a little.

"Calm down," Katsuya says, "She's probably just in the bathroom."

Yugi clenches his fists, "I'm going to look for her again," and he runs out of the cafeteria.

Bakura becomes concerned. "Yugi seems worried about something. Maybe we should help him look for her."

We find Anzu presently walking up the stairs, to the roof. She is holding her hand nervously, as she's not sure if this a prank or if it's real. Once she stood behind the door, she braced herself. _Okay…_ she grabs the door handle and turns it, to allow the door to open. She steps out from the staircase and onto the roof. She finds that Shinji is standing on the other end of the rooftop. She sighs, _it's not him after all._ Shinji turns around, seeing that Anzu has come, he starts walking to her. Anzu too starts walking to him, but gradually. They finally meet in the middle. Shinji smiles at her.

"I see you got my note," he says.

"Yes..." she says simply, "Why did you want to meet me?"

He blinks a couple of times. "I thought you already had gathered why. The last part of the note gives a hint."

"Oh…" is all she says. She keeps her head down, not wanting to look at him.

"Will you go out with me, Mazaki?"

 _Ugh, this is what I wanted to avoid._ She lifts up her head to look at him. "I'm sorry Kitagawa. You seem like a nice guy, but…I'm not interested in that sort of thing."

He slumps his head down. "I see…I thought you might say that."

She laughs awkwardly, "Well, I'll be making my way now."

Shinji's tone completely changes. "You're not going anywhere, Mazaki."

"Huh?" She says surprised. She hears a slam behind her. She turns and sees that two men, in black suits, have entered onto the roof. _What the hell?!_ She quickly turns her head back to Shinji, who was creepily staring at her.

"It's a shame I have to drag you with me, by force."

"What are you doing Kitagawa? Who are these men?!" She begins edging away from him.

"They're my henchmen," he explains.

She begins to panic. _This is bad! Very bad!_ "And, why do you have henchmen?"

He starts sniggering to himself. "Because…" he then stops laughing, "They're here to take you to my hideout. So, I wouldn't try to struggle if I were you. After all, they're carrying dangerous weapons that could easily damage your pretty face."

She turns back to the men in suits, finding that they are now both holding knives. She gasps. _Yugi._

Yugi sneezes. He was looking through all of the classrooms, most of them being empty. He runs up to some of the other students in the hallway. "Have any of you seen Anzu Mazaki?"

"Mazaki? Sorry dude, we haven't seen her." The student apologies.

"Thank you anyway," Yugi starts running again. _Where on earth are you Anzu? I've looked everywhere possible in the school. Wait a minute! I didn't check the roof._

He turns around and heads towards the roof. He runs up the staircase and slams open the door. "Anzu!" To his disappointment, she isn't here either. He walks out onto the rooftop, and glances around to see if she was hiding around the corner. He drops to his knees, trying to think of other possible explanations. _Maybe she went home. But, she didn't look ill this morning…_ "Huh? What's this?" Yugi spots a scrunched up piece of paper to the side of him. He picks it up and unravels it. His eyes go wide. "This is…!"

"Why are we doing this again?" Honda moans, whilst he was walking with the other three.

"Because Yugi needs help finding Anzu," Bakura clarifies.

"He may have already found her. They could be working on their assignment right now."

"We don't know that though," Ryuji says, "Anyway, Bakura did say that Yugi looked worried. So, that's more of an excuse to look."

"Okay, fine," Honda drones.

"Let's check the roof," Katsuya suggests. The others agree and they head towards it.

Katsuya opens the roof door, to find Yugi collapsed on the floor. "Yugi!" He yells and hurries to him.

"What's wrong?!" Honda asks, whilst him and Bakura and Ryuji run over to him also.

Katsuya kneels down next to Yugi, seeing that he was in a state of shock. "What happened? Tell us Yugi!"

Yugi remained quiet, too stunned to speak. He slowly passes the piece of paper to Katsuya, still keeping silent. Katsuya takes the note from him.

"What does it say Jonouchi?" Bakura questions.

Katsuya reads out the note, ""Meet me on the roof at the start of lunch. From your secret admirer."

"So that's why Anzu thought that we played a prank on her," Honda says, "But if she thought that…it doesn't explain why she would come to the roof."

Katsuya turns over the paper to find a second note. "Hang on a sec guys, there's a second message." Katsuya stands up and faces them. He reads the note to himself. His eyes narrow and he clenches his teeth.

"What is it?" Honda asks, "You're expression changed."

"Tsk! It says: nice try a**holes, but Mazaki is mine for the taking," he rips the note apart, "What the hell is that supposed to mean!?"

"You mean someone's kidnapped her!" Honda says angrily.

Katsuya looks at Yugi irritated, and picks him up by the collar. "Snap out of it Yugi!"

"Hold on a moment Jonouchi," Bakura says, concerned.

Yugi didn't look at Katsuya. His head was tilted towards the side, so that he was avoiding Katsuya's gaze. "Listen to me Yugi! You can't be moping around like this when Anzu could be in serious danger! Start acting like a man for god's sake!"

Yugi turns his eyes to look at Katsuya. "That's easy for you to say," he mumbles.

Katsuya looks at him wide eyed. He keeps quiet momentarily before speaking again. "I know that you feel powerless Yugi. But…that shouldn't stop you from saving the girl you love," he speaks in a softer tone, and lowers Yugi back down onto his feet. "Remember Yugi, we're all here to help you as well. We're your friends after all."

Yugi looks at Katsuya, with a half-smile. "Yeah, you're right Jonouchi. I guess I'm just frustrated. Thanks for snapping me out of my daze."

"No problem," he pats Yugi's shoulder, "The question is though, is who could have written that note?"

 _I'm going to have to tell them._ "I…"

"I think I know who did it," Ryuji suddenly says. They all turn to look at him. Ryuji walks up to the rooftop's door, "Let's talk inside."

Ryuji opens one of the empty classroom doors. He allows the others inside and then he shuts the door, so no one will disturb them. He starts, by showing them his bruised leg.

Bakura gasps by how big the bruise it. "I can't believe it covered the whole of your leg."

"What do you mean by, you couldn't believe it?" Ryuji asks him, with a raised eyebrow.

Bakura remembers that he's the only one who caught a brief sight of Ryuji's bruised leg. "Sorry Otogi. I saw that your ankle was bruised yesterday. I was going to ask you about it, but I thought it would be better not too."

"So, how did you get that bruise?" Yugi asks.

Ryuji covers up his leg. "You know I told you guys that I was late because I overslept. Well, that's not true. Basically, what happened yesterday was…"

 _"_ _Man I'm tired," Ryuji yawns, "I knew I shouldn't have stayed up all night playing video games." As he was walking his normal route, he noticed that a bunch of guys were cornering a young girl next to an ally way. "What on earth?"_

 _"_ _Come on girlie, you might as well come with us. We can show you a good time," one of the guys spoke to her._

 _"_ _No t-thank you," she said shakily._

 _"_ _Leave her alone!" Ryuji shouts to them, causing the guys to turn around._

 _"_ _Huh?! Who the hell are you?"_

 _"_ _Does it matter?"_

 _"_ _Oh I see, a tough guy eh? We'd best get rid of this guy before Kitagawa arrives._

Once Ryuji explained the story, Yugi fell to his knees again. "Anzu could be hurt! I feel hopeless."

"Shut up Yugi! What did I just say earlier?" Katsuya yells at him.

Yugi flinches a little, but stands back onto his feet. _Jonouchi's right. This is no time to be thinking negatively._

"Where do we look for this gang though?" Honda ponders.

"I forgot to mention this," Ryuji states, "But, the guys that I saw were the same ones, from when we met that guy at the theme park."

"So he and Kitagawa know each other," Bakura points out.

"Seems so." He thinks about where to look. "I suggest we start with the all the local hangouts." They all nod in agreement.

Once school was finished, the five of them quickly left to search for Anzu. Ryuji suggests that they should split up, so that they could cover more ground. They all agree and so, Bakura and Ryuji head off together, leaving Yugi, Katsuya and Honda to look elsewhere.

* * *

Anzu slowly wakes up. She blinks a few times, and slowly positions herself up. She looks at her surroundings, finding that she was in a small room with a tiny window that was high above her. Meaning, escaping would be difficult. _Where am I? Ow!_ She holds the back of her head, trying to reduce the pain. _I must have been hit from behind._ The door, that kept her enclosed, opened. One of the men, in the suits, entered.

"You're awake," he simply states.

"Why did you bring me here?" She asks.

"It was Kitagawa's orders."

"What does he want?!" She angrily says.

"You." This causes her to gasp in distress. "He plans on making you his play thing." Once he said that, he left the room, locking the door behind him.

She quickly runs to the door, trying the pry it open, but to no avail. She falls down onto her knees, quivering in fear. _Please save me! Please Yugi!_

"Damn it!" Katsuya yells, as he punches a nearby brick wall. "We've looked at every hideout, but we can't find that bastard Kitagawa anywhere!"

"Now what?" Honda asks.

"There is someone who may be able to help us," Yugi says, "I'll text Bakura to meet up back with us."

"Who did you have in mind?" Katsuya questions.

"You'll find out."

Bakura and Ryuji re-join the three. "So, where are we going Yugi?" Ryuji asks.

Yugi points towards Kaiba land, which was just down the street. "You're kidding right?" Katsuya says.

"Nope," Yugi says, and starts walking towards Kaiba land. The other three follow him, not questioning his intention.

"Oh great. The last person I wanted to see was Kaiba," Katsuya moans to himself, and eventually follows the others.

Yugi steps inside the building and immediately goes to one of the security guards. "Well, if it isn't the king of games. You've come to enjoy some of Mr. Kaiba's attractions?" The security guard assumes.

"No. I wish to speak with Kaiba directly," he explains.

"I'll see if Mr. Kaiba is available. I'll be one moment." The guard pages for Seto on his walkie-talkie. "Mr. Kaiba sir."

On the other end of the line, Kaiba responds. "What do you want? Can't you see that I'm busy at the moment?"

"I understand Sir, but someone wishes to see you now."

"And who might that be?"

"The king of games himself sir, Yugi Mutou."

 _What could he want now?_ "Fine, send him in."

"Mr Kaiba will see you now," the guard explains to Yugi.

They all go to the elevator. The guard activates the code for the top floor, and presses the button. The elevator makes its way up. They all keep quiet, until they reach the top floor. The elevator door opens. Yugi and the others step out into Kaiba's office. Seto was sitting at his desk, looking out of the window. "I've brought them here, Mr. Kaiba sir." The guard explains.

"You can leave now," Seto tells the guard.

"Yes sir," the guard bows and goes back down, in the elevator.

Kaiba lets out an annoyed sigh, and then swivels in his chair to look at Yugi. "It seems you've also brought all of your friends. Typical of you." He leans back in his chair, folding his arms. "Why have you come to see me? I'm too busy to duel you Yugi."

Yugi speaks in a serious tone, "I want you to hack CCTV footage." The others are shocked at Yugi's request. However, Kaiba's expression remained the same.

"What for?"

"Anzu was kidnaped by someone from our school. We've looked everywhere possible, but we can't find her." He explains.

"Hmm…I thought there was one member short in your party," he pauses, "Why should I hack CCTV to help you?"

Katsuya starts getting angry at him. "What do you mean why?! Our friend is in danger!"

"Oh, Jonouchi. I didn't realise you were here," Kaiba says disrespectfully.

"Tsk! I've been here the whole time!"

"What's going on in here?" They all turn around to see that Mokuba has entered into the office. "Seto, why is Yugi and his friends here?"

"It's nothing important Mokuba," Kaiba says simply.

"You jerk! This is very important! Anzu could be hurt, and it's all because you can't hack CCTV!" Jonouchi yells at him.

Kaiba becomes irritated. "I never said I couldn't, idiot."

"Will you help us Kaiba?" Yugi asks.

 _Tsk. This is why I find you so annoying._

"We should help them Seto," Kaiba looks at Mokuba who was walking to his desk.

"You're joking right?" Kaiba says.

Mokuba shakes his head. "Come on Seto. It's not like you couldn't handle it. You find hacking footage easy."

Kaiba closes his eyes and thinks. He then looks at Yugi. "Fine. I'll help you this time, but don't expect any other favours." He says sourly.

Yugi smiles briefly. "Thank you Kaiba."

"Humph."

Kaiba begins working his magic on his laptop. He tells them to gather around. He shows them the CCTV footage of the current time. Yugi tells him that Anzu was taken around 12:30. Kaiba begins searching all the local areas. "There." He points to the screen. It shows two men in suits, one carrying Anzu into a warehouse.

"Those sons of…!" Honda exclaims.

"How far away is that warehouse from here?" Bakura asks, interrupting Honda.

"15 minutes. So maybe you should hurry up and get going," Kaiba tells them.

"Let's go guys!" Katsuya says. The others hurry and follow Katsuya to the elevator. Yugi stops midway.

"Thank you again Kaiba," he repeats.

"I don't need your gratitude Yugi," he says bitterly.

Yugi runs to the others, into the elevator, and pushes the button to go down. Before the door closed, Kaiba says. "Don't forget Yugi. I want to duel you for real. You know, this time without your partner." The door then closes.

We find Shinji and the gang leader, sitting on empty crate boxes, inside their warehouse hideout. They were both cleaning their knives. Shinji was mischievously smiling to himself. "What are you smiling about?" The gang leader asks him, noting his current expression.

"Oh, nothing. Just…how easy this all was," he says smugly. Suddenly, the warehouse shutter began to open. "Hey! Who's opening the door!?"

Yugi and his friends enter into the warehouse, startling the gang leader and his members. Whilst Shinji stood up, fuming.

"Where are you hiding Anzu, Kitagawa?!" Yugi demands.

The gang leader walks up next to Shinji. "It's nice to see you again, 'king'." He then looks at Ryuji. "You too, Ryuji Otogi." Ryuji just snarls at him.

"Seems you have already been acquainted," Shinji states.

"Answer my question Kitagawa! Where's Anzu?" Yugi gets angry.

He raises his hands. "Like I'm going to tell you that."

Katsuya whispers to Yugi. "Go with Bakura and find Anzu. We'll deal with these guys." Yugi turns to look at him. Katsuya just smiles, as well as giving him one of his many thumbs up. Yugi nods, and gestures to Bakura. Katsuya starts crackling his knuckles. "It's been a while, since I've had to take down guys like you."

"You think you can take all of us on?" Shinji asks, amused.

"I'm not alone, you know. Come on, Honda and Otogi. Let's teach these guys a lesson."

Honda smiles inwardly. "Seems this is one of those things, which I'm going to have to agree with you on, Jonouchi. You ready, Otogi?"

"You bet," he replies.

The three of them engage in the fight, and Yugi and Bakura venture inside, avoiding any conflict. They open one of the doors at the back of the warehouse, to find a long hallway with several rooms. They both turn right and start looking in the rooms, finding that they are all empty. As they continued down, they are joined by the two henchmen in suits. Bakura pushes Yugi back and grabs a crow bar, which was conveniently placed to the side. "What are you doing Bakura?" Yugi asks him, whilst regaining his balance.

"Go back and search the other rooms. Anzu's got to be in one of them somewhere. I'll stay here and fight these guys."

"But Bakura! You've never hurt anyone before!"

"I know. Don't worry about me," he smiles and looks at Yugi with an uncertain look, "go and find her."

Yugi slumps his head and quickly runs the other way. _This is all my fault! I should have told everyone what I heard. I'm so stupid._ He starts opening more doors, still finding Anzu not present. "Anzu! Can you hear me?!"

 _Huh?_ Anzu lifts her head up, from hiding in-between her knees. "Yugi?"

"Anzu!" He calls again.

"Yugi?!" She relaxes her knees. _I know I wasn't imaging it! Yugi's here._

Yugi tries for the last door, which was at the end of the hallway. _Did Anzu call me?_ He bursts open the door. He had found her. "Anzu," he repeats again.

She covers her mouth, overwhelmed that he was there. She begins to tear. "Y-yugi…" She rushes to him and hugs him. "I'm glad…you came. I was so scared," she whimpers.

He gently hugs her back. "Did they hurt you?" She quickly shakes her head. He lets out a relieved sigh. He let's go of her. "We need to go."

She wipes away her remaining tears, and they leave to meet back with the others. She grabs his hand, once they started running. This caused Yugi to blush a little. They hurry back out into the warehouse's open area. The two were surprised to see that the police had arrived.

"I called them," they turn to see Bakura, holding his mobile phone. He also had a small cut on his head, which was bleeding slightly.

"Are you all right Bakura?!" Anzu asks, alarmed. "Your head is bleeding."

"I'm okay. It's just a little scratch," he reassures her, "It seems that the others had no problem taking care of them guys."

Katsuya, Honda and Ryuji had all successfully knocked out the gang members, including the leader and Shinji. The three boys were currently panting. They notice Anzu and Yugi. "Yugi! Anzu! Are you two okay?" Katsuya shouts to them.

Yugi gives a thumbs up to him. The three of them re-join them outside of the warehouse, to allow the police to arrest the gang. "I'm sorry…" Anzu says, causing the boys to questionably look at her. She starts to cry again. "I s-should have told you about the letter. I'm so stupid."

"What are talking about?" Ryuji starts, "It's not your fault."

"But… you're all hurt because of me."

"These are nothing. Now, stop crying. We know you're tougher than that," Katsuya says, smiling.

She manages to stop crying and smiles at them. "I'll take you home," Yugi offers.

"Thank you," she politely says. The two wave goodbye to the others, and Yugi takes her home.

"Now that's an interesting sight," Honda amusingly says.

"What is?" Bakura asks.

"Didn't you guys notice? They've been stuck holding hands ever since they came back," he points at Yugi's and Anzu's hands.

Once Yugi and Anzu made it to her house, he realises that they'd been holding hands. He quickly let's go of her hand, making Anzu look at him oddly. She then catches on, because her hand started to feel cold. _He must have found it a bother…_ He then tells her that he'll be going now. "Wait," she stops him, "I mean, won't you come in for a bit." She starts playing with her hair.

"Um…Okay," he agrees, unsurely.

"It's just that…I want someone to keep me company," she quickly explains.

"Okay." She opens her front door and leads him inside. "Is your mother home?"

"Yes, she is."

 _Good, I don't want to be left alone with her. Especially in her own home. Wait a moment. Why am I speaking like I'm her boyfriend or something?!_

She leads him into her leaving room. He sits down, rather uncomfortably. "Did you want a drink?" She offers him.

"No, thank you. I'm good," he declines, quite sheepishly. Anzu sits down next to him on the sofa. She unexpectedly hugs him. Yugi's eyes go wide. "W-what's wrong, Anzu?"

"Nothing…I'm just glad that you're here with me." Yugi's heart began to speed up. _Should I hold her?_ Unsure on what to do, he decides to rest his hands on her shoulders. They remain like that for a minute or so.

"Anzu, darling! You didn't tell me we were having a guest," her mother walks into the living room. Anzu rapidly let's go of Yugi and he does the same with her.

"Hi mother. Sorry, I invited Yugi last minute."

"Yugi?" She walks further in to get a better view of them. "Oh, Yugi. It's been a while. My, look how mature you've become."

"It has," he replies.

Her mother smiles cheekily. "I didn't know you two were dating."

Anzu and Yugi both went bright pink. "No mother! We're just friends."

"Is that all?" She says disappointingly, "You seemed like you were. I mean you were hugging just now."

"Well that's because…well…how should I put this…"

"Did something happen today?"

"Yes."

Yugi stood up. "I'll let you and your mother talk. I should let my grandpa know too."

"Oh…okay, I'll see you out," she says disappointedly. She follows Yugi to the front door. He steps out, waves to her and walks to the game shop. Anzu waves back. She shuts the door and immediately sinks to the floor. _Did I upset him somehow?_

Yugi was walking with his head down. _Why did she invite me in all of a sudden? She even hugged me…She probably did it out of pity._ Yugi arrives home, seeing Katsuya and his grandpa exchanging words. He watches his grandpa go back into the game shop. Katsuya notices Yugi and signals him over. "Hey Yugi."

"Hi. What were you and my grandpa talking about?" He asks.

"About today. Sorry, I know I should've let you tell your grandpa instead. But, I didn't know how long you were going to be with Anzu."

"That's okay," He assures him.

"So…how did it go? I mean is she feeling better and all?"

"I think so…"

"Well, I'm sure she was happy to see you again," he pauses, "So, what are you going to do about her?"

"What do you mean?"

Katsuya narrows his eyes. "You know. Are you going to confess to her?"

"Of course not."

"Why the hell not?!" Katsuya starts to get angry at him.

"I never said I was going to in the first place," he states, "So, just leave it alone Jonouchi."

"If this is still about Atem, you need to drop it already!"

Yugi snaps. "I said leave it alone!"

"I won't! I'm your friend Yugi. I'm trying to help you for god's sake. But if you keep living in the past, you're never going to get anywhere!"

"Just stop it! She doesn't love me and she never will. End of!" He finishes the conversation, and leaves Katsuya to go into the game shop.

Katsuya calms down. "What if you had really lost her? Would you regret it? Not telling her how you feel?"

Yugi stops momentarily before entering inside. He shakes his head, "Just go, Jonouchi." And shuts the door behind him.


	6. Black or Red?

**A/N: I now give you chapter 6. You guys give the best reviews! I'm so happy that you all find the characters in their character, which is what I was aiming to hear from you guys. Very proud right now. I've made this chapter shorter from the last. I don't know when I'll make another longer chapter, but I will do it again. Yet again, I hope enjoy the latest chapter. Also, a review is always appreciated.**

* * *

Chapter 6: Black or Red?

Seems hard to imagine, but…Yugi and Katsuya had fallen out. All of Wednesday, the two of them completely ignored each other. The others didn't really notice at first, but when Honda made one of his inappropriate remarks, involving Anzu who was not actually present at the time, Yugi and Katsuya parted separate ways from the group.

It was now Thursday, and Honda was currently explaining, during break time, a new horror movie which is expected to be good. "I'm telling you guys! It's going to be the next big thing," he explains, way too eagerly.

"I'd like to see this," Ryuji responds, "When does it come out?"

"This weekend! I've already booked tickets to go and see it."

"Hopefully it lives up to its hype," Bakura comments. Bakura looks at the other three, who weren't engaging in the conversation. Yugi was sitting at his desk, peering out of the window, his head resting on his palm. Katsuya was playing on his Gameboy and Anzu was focusing on her phone.

"This is annoying me," Honda says quietly.

"What is?" Ryuji asks. Honda gestures, with his eyes, to the other three. "Oh, I see. It is strange though."

"How so?"

"Jonouchi and Yugi have been like this all yesterday, and I thought by now they would be back to the way they were. Now Anzu is ignoring them…?" He wonders. Anzu then, stood up from her desk and left the classroom. "Did she hear me?"

"I don't think so," Bakura says.

Anzu went to the rooftop, still holding her phone. She walks to the end of the roof. Looking at her phone, making sure she had signal, she dials one of her contacts. It rings for roughly 20 seconds, before the person on the other line spoke. "Hello?"

"Hi Mai, it's me. Anzu."

"Oh, Anzu! Sorry, I didn't have your number saved on my phone. How are you? It's been a while hasn't it."

"Yeah it has…" Anzu trails off.

"Is everything okay? I mean this is the first time you're calling me."

Anzu asks, "Are you free to go shopping? This Saturday?"

"I am actually," she agrees, "But I have to ask. Why the sudden invite?"

"…I need advice. I can't really talk to anyone else."

Mai pauses and thinks for a moment. "You need advice from another girl I gather?"

"Yes."

Mai similes to herself. "I'll be happy to help you. Shall we say…11?"

"Yes, that's fine."

"Well, great! I'll meet you in the centre of the mall, okay?"

"Okay. Thank you, Mai."

"No problem. See you then!"

"See you." Anzu then hangs up the call.

* * *

Anzu was now currently walking to the mall. She decided on wearing her denim skirt, and pink/yellow shirt. Arriving at her destination, she sees Mai already waiting for her. Mai sees her and waves. She was wearing her usual outfit, which consisted of a white corset, purple jacket and purple skirt. Anzu walks up to her and they both embrace. "It's good to see you again," Mai state.

"You too," Anzu says, smiling.

Mai points to the left, illustrating a cafe. "How about we talk over coffee?" Anzu nods and they head in that direction. Entering, Mai offers to pay for the drinks. Anzu retaliates but Mai insists. They both settle for cappuccinos and sit down in the corner of the café. Mai takes a sip of her drink before speaking. "So…What can I help you with?"

Anzu hesitates firstly, not sure on where to start from. "Well…um…"

Mai places her cup down. "How about I take a guess at what this is about," she thinks for a moment, "Is it perhaps… to do with Yugi?"

Anzu inaudibly gasps, but nods at her deduction.

Mai smirks a little. "So, what's bothering you?"

Anzu begins explaining her situation. "He seems to be a bit off with me lately…I'm not sure if I've done something wrong to maybe upset him…"

"Off? In what way?"

"He's been avoiding me a little. Since Tuesday, we've hardly spoken at all."

"Did something happen on Tuesday?" She questions, curiously.

Anzu closes her eyes for a moment, then reopens them. "I was kidnapped by a fake student."

Mai's eyes enlarged a little. "Oh my goodness! Are you okay and all?"

"Yes I'm fine. The others came to find me. Well, Yugi was the one who found me locked up."

Mai sighs in relief. "At least you're okay. But…why would Yugi avoid you for that?"

"I don't know…but…" She stops and takes a quick sip of her cappuccino. Mai raises her eyebrow. Suddenly, Anzu starts blurting out her events, which involved Yugi. "Before that! I decided that I wanted to partner up with him, for this assignment that we have to do and then we found ourselves in a carnal position! Then! On Tuesday, I invited him into my house and hugged him because! Because I just wanted to! Then…he got up and left! That's probably why he's avoiding me because I made him uneasy! I'm such an idiot…"

Mai was shocked at Anzu's big outburst. Mai then starts laughing. "What's so funny?" Anzu asks her, confused.

Mai takes another sip of her drink, to try and calm herself down. "Oh, honey. How you survive with just guy friends, I'll never know." Anzu just blinks at her. Mai raises a finger. "I can tell you that…Yugi is avoiding you because…he must like you like 'that.'"

Anzu face turns pinks. "What?! That can't be it! Yugi doesn't like me that way."

"How do you know?" She debates.

"Well…he doesn't see me as a girl."

"Do you like him?" This catches Anzu off guard. Did she like him? "Because the way you're acting shows that. I mean, remember when I told you that you had a crush on him?"

"Yes…" is all she says.

"Is it more than a crush now?"

"I…really…like him…" she says with her head down. Mai smiles sweetly at her response.

"I think I can help you now." She explains, finishing the remainder of her cappuccino. Anzu raises her head to look at her, her cheeks slightly pink. "Try being more direct with him. You said you hugged him right? Well, maybe he thought you did it because he saved you. So, he's receiving the wrong signals."

"I never thought about it…"

"Yugi's not the type to try anything funny. He's a trusting and caring boy. But, he can also be a bit shy." Anzu nods to show she's comprehending. "The next time you see him, ask him out. Just to a casual place like bowling."

"I suppose I can try."

"That's the spirit!" She then grabs Anzu's hands. "Come on. You invited me to go shopping after all." Mai then drags Anzu out of the coffee shop. They visit nearly every shop, from clothing to bazaars. Mai explains that there's one more place that she wants to visit. "Here we are!" Anzu looks at her uneasily. She had stopped in front of the most provocative lingerie store.

"W-Why do you want to go in there?" Anzu says nervously.

Mai grabs her hands. "Because every girl needs sexy underwear. I'll treat you to a set!" She winks at her.

"Huh?!"

"Wow! Look at all the cute underwear!" Mai exclaims happily to herself. She starts picking out colourful sets.

"I'll just wait outside." Anzu says. She begins walking but Mai jumps on her from behind. "Hey! Mai!"

"Don't be silly. We're getting something for you!"

"But I don't need…"

Mai interrupts her. She holds up two sets for her. "What do you think? The black one says just do me. Or the red one which says, I like to play before we get into it."

"Mai!" Mai then holds up the red one next to Anzu.

"It's perfect for your skin tone! I'll buy you this one. I'm guessing you're an E?"

"Mai!"

 _Why did she buy me this…?_ Anzu and Mai were heading back to the centre of the mall. They were both carrying big bags of shopping. Anzu hid the small shopping bag, she got from the lingerie store, so that her mother won't see it when she comes home. "Thank you for coming Mai. I'm glad we talked."

"You're welcome. Thank you for inviting me." Mai looks at her phone, for the time. "I have to go now. I won't be able to meet up anytime soon. I'm travelling you see."

"Oh, okay."

"But, if you need someone to talk to. I'm only a call or text away."

"Okay. Thank you again," Anzu smiles at her.

Mai starts leaving and waves back to Anzu. "Bye-bye! Oh! I forgot to tell you. I left another present in your bag."

Anzu waves back and says goodbye. Curious, she looks in the little bag, to find a pair of white thigh high socks. _Huh?_ She turns over the packet to see that Mai left a note. _"Wear these to school instead. Much more your style."_ Anzu sighs to herself. _Seriously Mai…_

* * *

 _Okay Anzu…you're just going over to help…no big deal. But what do I wear?!_ It was already Sunday and Anzu was having a hard time getting ready. She had various outfits placed on her bed. "Maybe…this with…" she says to herself, whilst grabbing the new pair of denim shorts that she bought yesterday. "Okay, done!" Satisfied with her look, she settles for her denim shorts with black tights, and a peached coloured shirt with a white collar. Looking at her wall clock, she grabs a small shoulder bag and leaves her room. As she grabbed the door handle to the front door, her mother interrupts her.

"Where are you going darling?" she queries. Anzu turns her head slightly.

"To help a friend with something," Anzu replies, calmly.

Her mother thinks for a moment, but then smiles. "Okay. Have fun with Yugi." She then quickly dashes away from Anzu, to avoid her protest. Anzu just shakes her head and leaves out of the door.

Anzu arrives at the game shop for 10am. She gently knocks on the door and waits. She begins fidgeting uneasily, as she realises that they'll be alone until 2pm. Well, if you exclude the customers of course. A moment later, Yugi answers the door. He hesitates for an instant, "Good morning," he greets her in.

"Morning," she says as she steps into the shop. "How are you?"

He closes the door behind him. "Good...you?"

"I'm fine…" She thinks of what to say, "So! Have you had many customers yet?"

Yugi blinks confusingly at her. "The shop doesn't open until 11 today. My grandpa wants us to put some deliveries on display."

"Oh, I didn't realise! Of course it opens later," she tries to say without looking awkward. _Agh! We're alone for an hour!_

"I've already bought out the stock," he points behind the cash desk. He starts placing the boxes upon the desk. Unravelling the tape, on the boxes, he finds that there are new duel monster cards and figurines for specific monsters. "Wow. These are awesome! Look there's…" He stops to gaze at Anzu. She was looking at one of the shelfs, not paying attention. He admires her figure, noting that she had become much more curvaceous lately. "Anzu…" he says almost inaudibly.

She stops looking at the merchandise and focuses her attention on Yugi. "Did you say something?"

Yugi quickly shakes his head. "No. I was just looking at the new duel monster cards that we've got."

"Oh," is all she says. She makes her way over to the cash desk, and stands behind it so that she is side by side with Yugi. She begins taking out the card packs. "Is there anywhere in particular that your grandpa wants these displayed?"

"Yes. He wants them placed on the left hand side of the store. He plans on making the whole left side dedicated to duel monsters and other merchandise related to it." He explains.

"What's wrong with you and Jonouchi?" She asks unexpectedly.

"What?" He turns to face her. "What do you mean?"

"You two haven't spoken to each other since Tuesday."

"Oh…" Yugi scratches the back of his head. "We just had a little argument, that's all."

"About what?"

 _You…_ Yugi smiles slightly. "It's nothing for you to worry about. Just guy things."

Anzu raises her eyebrows at him, and then she folds her arms. "It's obviously something I should worry about. I mean, you two have never fallen out."

"Honesty Anzu it's no big deal."

"Can you at least try and talk it out with him? You're best friends after all."

Yugi sighs faintly. "I'll try."

Anzu unfolds her arms and smiles. "Good. That's more like the Yugi I know." She then continues to take out the duel monsters merchandise.

30 minutes had passed, and the two had hardly exchanged words. Anzu began worrying to herself. She hoped the awkwardness, that seemed to have dwelled upon them, would have gone by now. She thinks back to her previous conversation with Mai. " _Try being more direct with him. The next time you see him, ask him out. Just to a casual place like bowling."_ _Easier said than done._ She looks at Yugi, seeing him rearranging one of the middle shelfs. _Just ask him already!_ "Yugi!" Yugi jumped back at Anzu's sudden loud tone. _You went with yelling Anzu?_ _Way to go… Not!_

"What's wrong?" He asks her, slightly worried.

"A-are you free after school on Monday or Tuesday?" She asks hesitantly.

Since Yugi had now decided to regularly attend the gym every Monday and Wednesday, which he obviously wasn't going to tell Anzu, he had to go with Tuesday. "I'm free Tuesday. Why?"

She starts twiddling her thumbs. "D-do you maybe want to go bowling?" _I sound like an idiot right now!_

"Bowling? Sure. Are the others coming as well?"

"Umm…I meant just us two."

Yugi's eyes widened a little, so that Anzu wouldn't notice. _She just wants us to go together? I mean that's great, but…why? It seems like, a date…_

"If you'd rather not that's fine…"

"No!" He quickly stops her. "I'd like to go with you."

Anzu's heart sped up a bit. _I wonder if Mai was right. Does Yugi like me that way?_ "Okay, great."

Yugi's grandpa returned a 2pm, on the dot to be exact. "Welcome home grandpa!" Yugi welcomes him back, walking up to him and giving him a quick hug.

"Did you two do okay without me?"

"Yes. We've had quite a few customers."

Sugoroku happily laughs, whilst ruffling his grandson's spiky hair. "Excellent. Thank you for looking after it. You too Anzu."

"You're welcome Mr. Mutou," she lightly bows to him. She next grabs her shoulder bag. "I'll be going now Yugi."

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow" Yugi walks Anzu out of the shop and waves her goodbye. Once he closed the door, he turns to find his grandpa grinning stupidly at him.

"So…how did things go?" He asks immaturely. Yugi animatedly sweat drops.


	7. Growth

**A/N: Hello everybody! I present to you chapter 7. You guys are so awesome! I've been receiving some of the best reviews I've ever had. So, thank you so much for your amazing support because I'm glad that this story is receiving a lot of positive comments and that you all like it so much. I have to mention this but, basically someone messaged me saying that I've inspired them to write a Yu-Gi-Oh fanfic! That's insane! I cannot believe that. So, thank you again to that person it's really good to hear that! I hope you all like the latest chapter and a review is always appreciated.**

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Chapter 7: Growth

"I can't believe I woke up late!" Anzu was presently rushing to school. The alarm had decided to fail, in its event to wake her up. To make matters worse, she unintentionally put on her new white socks that Mai had bought her. At home the day before, she was debating whether to wear them or not. When she woke up, she didn't have time to think about her actions. And now here she was, running madly, whilst panting to herself.

Anzu charges into the school building and quickly changes into her indoor shoes. Once she'd closed her locker, she dashes to the classroom. She roughly opens the door. The students flinch slightly at Anzu's appearance, as she had her head slumped and her breathing was unsteady. "Are you all right Anzu?" Bakura asks her, worriedly. She whips up her head, causing her hair to flip back and away from her face. She smiles awkwardly.

"Yes…" She pants. "I just woke up late."

"That's not like you," Ryuji points out. He turns and looks at the classroom clock. "We still have about 8 minutes until class starts."

Anzu sweat drops and finally catches her breath. She then goes and sits at her desk. Honda catches a glimpse of Anzu's new fashion attire, before she sits down. "I wonder if something happened yesterday."

"What do you mean?" Ryuji questions him.

"Don't tell me you forgot. Anzu went to help out at the game shop, remember?" He reminds him.

Ryuji narrows his eyes at him. "Why would you think that something had happened?"

Honda points towards Anzu's legs. "Look. She's wearing thigh highs to school."

"So…?"

"She never wears that to school. Only a small percentage of the girls here do."

Ryuji sighs. "Are you trying to say that Yugi did something that caused her to wear them?"

"Exactly my point!"

Ryuji face palms. "You're an idiot."

Bakura interrupts their conversation. He taps Ryuji on the shoulder and shows him a piece paper, which had pictures printed on it. "Sorry to interrupt you two. But, I wanted to show you these Otogi. I thought these might be useful for our assignment."

Ryuji takes the paper from him and quickly skims through the images. "These are great Bakura. We'll definitely use them for our presentation."

"Thank you Otogi. I wasn't sure if we should have more or not."

Ryuji shakes he head. "Nope, these are plenty."

Bakura then turns to Honda, who had his finger pressed against his forehead, to show that he was thinking deeply. "How is your assignment going Honda?"

Honda's head snaps up, as if an idea suddenly sparked up in his head. "I've got it. It must be ovulation."

Bakura opens his mouth awkwardly at his reply, whilst also sweat dropping, whilst Ryuji face palmed again. "Um…is that what your assignment is about?"

"What? No! I'm on about the reason for Anzu's sudden change in her socks." Ryuji then bashes him on the head. "Ow! Hey!"

"You really are stupid. You know nothing about girls," Ryuji disses him.

"Oh. And you do!?"

"More than you do anyway."

"Hey, Honda?" Bakura asks, in a gentle tone. The other two stop their little quarrel.

"What's up?"

"I have a favour to ask of you. Do you think you could talk to Jonouchi about what's going on between him and Yugi?"

"Why me?"

"Well, you've known Jonouchi longer than us two."

Honda scratches his head annoyingly. "You do realise, I'm not the one for sappy talk."

"It should be you Honda. Even if you don't want to. We need to help them two to come together with whatever's going on." Ryuji explains.

Honda sighs dynamically, but agrees. "Okay fine. But, I'll speak to him at the end of the day."

At the end of school, Honda goes over to Katsuya and asks to speak with him once everyone else had left. Katsuya was curious at first, but agrees and waits for everyone to leave. Honda looks at Ryuji and Bakura who were about to leave. They gesture at him and then wave goodbye to the two of them. The classroom was now empty. The two were silent for a brief moment.

Honda lets out a sigh, before speaking. "So, what's going on with you and Yugi?"

Katsuya looks out of the window. "Nothing," he states simply.

"Don't play dumb! You two have been avoiding each other for a while. It's really starting to piss me off!" Honda becomes infuriated.

"Tsk. It's nothing to worry about. I can't really explain it."

"And why can't you explain it?" Katsuya doesn't reply. He continues to gaze out of the window. Honda raises his hands up. "Fine. Just forget it! If you don't want to tell me, then so be it." Honda then grabs his belongings and leaves the classroom.

Katsuya sighs. _Sorry Honda. I can't tell you what's going on._

* * *

The next day. "Okay you guys! Huddle time!" Honda exclaims to Bakura, Ryuji and Anzu.

"What for?" Anzu questions.

The four of them were hanging outside of the classroom, during lunch. Yugi was currently eating alone in the classroom, whilst Katsuya had gone someplace else. "Just huddle already. We need to sort out the problem between Jonouchi and Yugi." The three comply and huddle in a circle.

"How did the talk go with Jonouchi yesterday?" Bakura asks.

"Terrible. He wouldn't tell me anything. Said he can't explain it or something."

"So, how are we going to get those two to make up?" Ryuji asks.

The four of them think for a moment. "We should get those two alone, so that they can talk things over," Anzu suggests.

"Good idea," Bakura agrees, "But, how do we get them alone? And where could they talk?"

"I've got it!" Honda explains. He whispers the idea to them. They nod in comprehension and put the plan into motion.

Honda and Ryuji head down the hallway, to go and find Katsuya. Meanwhile, Anzu and Bakura enter into the classroom and walk towards Yugi. He had finished eating and was currently playing on his DS. "Hey, Yugi," Anzu interrupted him. He paused his game and turned to face them.

"Oh, hi Anzu and Bakura."

"We were just wondering if you wanted to join us on the roof."

"We were going to play duel monsters," Bakura explains.

"Sure. I'd love to play. Just let me save my game play." He saves his current game progress, and then puts his DS into his bag. He stands up and follows the other two out of the classroom.

In the meantime, Honda and Ryuji were walking with Katsuya towards the roof. They arrived before the other three, and Honda and Ryuji allowed Katsuya to step onto the rooftop first. Ryuji waited by the door for the others, while Honda slowly followed behind Katsuya.

The other three had arrived at the bottom of the stairs. Anzu and Bakura let Yugi go up first. Ryuji saw Yugi coming. He whistles, to signal to Honda. Honda walks back to Ryuji. As he does so, Yugi enters onto the rooftop. Once he'd stepped away from the door, Honda and Ryuji push Yugi forward and they run inside and lock the door.

"Honda! Otogi!" Yugi yells.

Katsuya runs to the door and starts banging on it. "You jerks! Let us out!"

Honda responds from the other side of the door. "Not until you two have made up!"

"Tsk! I'm going to kill you once I get out!" He hears Honda and Ryuji laughing to themselves.

"It doesn't look like they're going to open the door," Yugi clarifies.

"Seems so…" Katsuya moves away from the door and begins walking to the other end of the roof. "I'm sure you wouldn't want them eavesdropping." Yugi nods and follows Katsuya.

Katsuya stops and waits for Yugi to walk up beside him. They remain quiet for a few minutes, just enjoying the view. Katsuya decides to break the ice. "Look Yugi…I'm sorry for what I said the other day. I didn't mean it."

Yugi slumps his head a little. "I'm sorry too. I guess…I was angry at myself."

"I won't try and force you anymore. But…you need to tell her eventually how you feel. Even if the end result is not what you'd hoped for."

"I know. I'm still uncertain though."

Katsuya smirks and gives Yugi a pat on the back. "All I can say is, good luck!" He gives him a thumbs up. Yugi smiles and nods. "Now then." Katsuya turns back and heads towards the roof door. Not too long after, Yugi follows him. Katsuya knocks on the door. "Open up! We've talked!"

Honda slowly opens the door and begins grinning childishly. "I'll let you two back in if you two…ugh!" Katsuya had punched him in the face. "What the hell Jonouchi?!"

"That's for locking us out!"

* * *

"Are you ready to go?" Anzu asks Yugi, as he was replacing his indoor shoes with his outdoor shoes.

"Yeah, I'm ready," he grabs his bag and places it on his shoulders. The two of them were about to leave when the other four noticed them, as they entered into the shoe locker room.

"Hey you two!" Ryuji shouts to them, causing Anzu and Yugi to turn and face them. The four walk up to them. "We're going to burger world now. Did you want to join us?"

"Yeah! They're doing this new super mega ultra-huge hotdog!" Honda exclaims happily.

"Sorry guys. We're busy today," Yugi explains quite bashfully.

"Oh. I see, you're both working on the assignment right?" Katsuya assumes.

Anzu shakes her head. "No. We're going bowling."

"Awesome. I hope you guys have fun," Bakura says, completely oblivious to the other three boys' shocked faces.

"Thanks. Let's go Yugi." Anzu and Yugi leave the school's entrance.

Bakura turns around to find that Katsuya and Honda had fallen onto the flour, whilst Ryuji stood there, not moving. "Are you guys okay?"

"How can he be so hopeless?" Honda mutters to himself.

"She's making it so easy for you Yugi." Katsuya says.

"Are they going to be okay?" Bakura points to the two on the floor, whilst looking at Ryuji.

Ryuji snaps out of his shock and folds his arms. "Yeah, don't worry Bakura. It's just them two being themselves."

Yugi and Anzu were silently walking. The bowling centre was quite far, approximately 20 minutes from the school. Anzu was trying to calm down, since the butterflies, which were swarming around in her stomach, were not helping. She accidently let's out a small sigh, causing Yugi to look at her. "Is something wrong?" He asks her.

"Huh?" She turns to him, but quickly averts her gaze in the direction she was walking. "Oh, no. I, um. I'm just relieved that you and Jonouchi were able to patch things up."

"Yeah. I'm glad we solved the issue."

"I'm sorry we lied to you. We didn't know what else to do…"

"That's okay. I see why you did it," he reassures her. The two carry on walking quietly all the rest of the way to the bowling centre. Anzu couldn't bring herself to look at him, as she was so nervous. She was glad that they were going together, but she wasn't sure on how to tell him about how she feels about him. She texted Mai this morning, to tell her that they were going bowling together today. Mai's response was: _"Good job girl! Make sure to have fun okay. Oh, in case things get 'wild', wear that set a bought you!"_ After that, Anzu quickly ended the conversation.

15 minutes later, the two had arrived at the bowling centre. "I'll pay for it," Yugi offers. However, Anzu was reluctant towards his offer.

"I can pay my half. You don't need to pay for me," she says almost bashfully.

"But I don't mind, really."

"But…"

He stops her. "It's fine really. I want to," once he'd finished his sentence, he went up to the clerk and payed.

Whilst Yugi's attention was at the counter desk, Anzu was nervously fidgeting to herself. _Calm down already Anzu! He's just paying for you._ She closes her eyes and lets out a deep breath to relax herself. Once she'd opened her eyes, Yugi was walking up to her to give her the bowling shoes. She thanks him and changes her shoes.

The clerk tells Yugi that their alley was at the end. Yugi gives the clerk their school shoes. They then make their way to the bowling alley. "It's been a while since I've been bowling," Yugi states, "I don't even think I'll be any good."

"I haven't been in while either. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do better than me," she tells him.

Yugi laughs awkwardly and starts rubbing the back of his head. "Well, the last time I did bowling…I accidently hit someone in the back of the legs with the ball, because it was too heavy for me."

"Oh no!"

"Luckily they weren't badly hurt. But, I had to continue bowling with my grandpa's help," he blushes slightly.

"How old were you?"

"I think, I was 9." Anzu starts giggling. Yugi looks at her embarrassed. "What's so funny?"

She stops giggling. "Just…the fact that you were so small then." Yugi's blush fades away and he sulks a little. Realising what she'd just said, she quickly tells him, "But, you've grown so much. I see you've had another growth spurt, you're nearly tall as me now."

"I have?" He compares the height between the two of them. She was right, Yugi had grown a little. "I didn't notice."

They arrive at their bowling alley. Anzu types in their names into the system. "You should go first Anzu."

"No, you should go first. You payed for me anyway," she protests.

"But."

"No buts! You first," she forces him to go first. Yugi sighs and gives in.

"All right," he surprises Anzu, as he unpredictably takes off his blue jacket.

"W-what are you doing?!" She bursts out.

He looks at her confused. "I'm just taking off my jacket. It's a bit warm in here."

"O-of course you are. Sorry, ignore me," she hides her face from him, since she had a slight blush on her cheeks. _What am I so nervous for?_ Yugi brushes off her odd reaction, and goes up to get one of the bowling balls. From the comer of her eye, she watches Yugi. She was admiring his physique. It didn't occur to her before, but he'd gotten quite muscular especially on his arms. Even though she couldn't see them through his white shirt, she could tell. She felt her face becoming warm again. _He's definitely not little anymore._

Yugi picks up one of the bowling balls and positions himself in front of the bowling alley. He thinks momentarily, his eyes narrowed with concentration. He swings his arm back and then forward. He lets go of the ball. To Yugi's and Anzu's amazement, he gets a strike.

"Wow! A strike already?" Anzu applauses him. He turns and smiles at her awkwardly, not really sure on how to explain how he did that. She crosses her arms. "Are you sure you haven't been in a while?" She playfully asks him.

"I promise I haven't. I really don't know where that came from," he explains.

"You do really live up to your title."

"I guess I do…" He goes for a second turn, this time only knocking down 7 pins. "Must have been luck the first time."

They were now onto their second game. Anzu was currently taking her turn. She'd knocked down 9 of the pins and she was focusing on getting this all important par. Yugi had won the first game, but now they were relatively even in this game. Anzu lets go of the ball and was hoping for it to hit the last pin. "Yes!" To her delight, the last pin falls. She was now ahead of Yugi. "Try and beat that!"

"You're good Anzu. I'll try and top that." He goes to collect his bowling ball. Again, he positions himself the way he has been for each turn. However, he droops his head all of a sudden, as if he'd just remembered something.

"What's wrong Yugi? I thought you said you were going to try and top my score," she playfully begins giggling, "don't tell me you've given up?"

"Anzu…" his tone lowered.

She immediately stops her sniggering. "Yes? Err…what is it?"

He lifts his head back up, but he doesn't face her. "You don't need to hang around me Anzu."

She puts on a confused faced. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"I know…that it's not me who you want to be around."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying that you don't need to force yourself to be around me."

Anzu quickly stands up, and then slams her hands down onto the bowling touchpad system. "W-what's that supposed to mean?!" Yugi turns to look at her. His eyes widen, as her eyes have started tearing.

"Anzu? Why are you?"

"I-I get it now. You don't want me around you," She wipes away some of her fallen tears, "why didn't you just tell me I was an annoyance to you?" Anzu grabs her schoolbag.

"Anzu wait! I didn't mean…" She didn't listen to what he had to say, as she had already ran towards the clerk. She quickly took off the bowling shoes and gave them to the clerk. He returned her school shoes to her. She didn't even put her shoes back on, because she was too busy running away from Yugi. She runs out of the building and heads home, crying.

Yugi, who hadn't chased after her, was collapsed on the floor. His eyes wide with shock. _I made her cry. No, I made 'Anzu' cry. Why did I say those things? I'm so selfish and thoughtless! I didn't think._

 _Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!_ Anzu had her face buried within her duvet covers. Her hair was a mess, and her eyes were red from her constant flowing tears. _I'm so stupid! I knew he would never like me!_


	8. Rain

**A/N: Now presenting…. (Drumroll) chapter 8! *Claps* Posting two days early? What sorcery is this?! Just a note to let you guys know that I will be moving to university very soon. Don't worry, chapter 9 will be up next week, maybe on Tuesday or Wednesday, not entirely sure yet. Thank you all so much again for the amazing reviews. I've made this chapter longer for you guys, so…um…yeah. I hope you like it! I'm having so much fun writing this story and I think this is my favourite chapter so far. Also, be sure to add this story to your favourite or alert list because we still have a long way to go. As always, a review is much appreciated.**

* * *

Chapter 8: Rain

 _Beep! Beep!_ Morning already. Yugi wasn't particular interested in getting up in the slightest. As he awoke, he realised that he'd fallen onto the floor. No surprise there. His brain decided to remind him, during the night, of his events at the bowling centre. _Beep! Beep!_ His alarm continued to pester him. He reached up to turn off his alarm, and then he crawled back into bed.

 _Knock! Knock!_ Now what? "Yugi! Are you up yet? You're going to be late if you don't hurry up," it was his grandpa. "Yugi?! I'm coming in." Sugoroku enters, seeing that his grandson was hiding under the covers. Sugoroku places his hands on his hips, annoyingly. "I know you're awake." He goes over to Yugi and drags the covers off him.

"Hey! Grandpa!" Yugi protests.

"For goodness sake Yugi. What's gotten into you?" Yugi sulks and places his arms across his chest. Sugoroku's face softens. "Is there something you want to tell me?" Yugi just shakes his head. His grandpa sighs. "How about I quickly whip you up some pancakes? It's been a while since you've had any."

"Okay," Yugi simply states.

Seriously, school is the last place he wants to be right now. To make matters worse for Yugi, today was dark and cloudy, just like his mood. He was walking fairly hunched over, like his bag was too heavy for him. He was not looking forward to seeing his friends' reactions. Most likely, Honda was going to present a big welcoming party for him.

Yugi, miserably, enters into the classroom. And what do you know, Honda was right there at the classroom's doorway, already waiting for him. "Yugi, my man!" Honda enthusiastically greets him, and then gives him an almost aggressive pat on the back. Yugi just sighs at his friend.

"Hey Piggy! Let Yugi get through the door already," Katsuya yells at him.

"Huh!?" Honda allows Yugi access and Honda turns to look at Katsuya, his fist clenched. "You could've asked nicely!" Ignoring Honda's outburst, Yugi slowly makes his way to his desk.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Katsuya says sarcastically, "Should I have said: Please Mr. Piggy. Do let Yugi come in." Katsuya begins laughing hysterically.

"You know what Katsuya!" Honda points a finger at him. "You are one annoying son of a!"

"Guys!" Bakura interrupts Honda's profanity. "Maybe you could put aside your argument for later?"

"Good point. You two are already giving me a headache," Ryuji explains, whilst rubbing his temples.

"Oh shut up Otogi," Katsuya moans at him.

"Make me."

Bakura just sweat drops. Honda notices that Yugi was ignoring them, as he was sitting at his desk, focusing his attention outside. Honda sneakily makes his way over to Yugi, and then puts his elbows on the opposite end of Yugi's desk. He smiles childishly. "So, how did your date go?" He asks Yugi.

Yugi didn't answer. Instead, Honda's question made his stomach hurt. He decides to keep quiet and that hopefully Honda will get the hint that it didn't go well. The other three boys join them two. "Annoying him already Piggy?" Katsuya teases.

"No!" Honda raises to his feet. "I was merely asking him about his date yesterday, with Anzu."

"Oh. I forgot about that," Bakura says, causing Katsuya and Honda to drop animatedly. Ryuji places a hand on his shoulder.

"You forgot a lot of things Bakura," Ryuji points out to him.

Once Katsuya regained his composure, he asked Yugi, "So, how did it go?" Yugi turns his head to the front of his desk, but still doesn't answer. Katsuya's eyes narrowed. "Did something happen, Yugi?" Yugi nods in response. Katsuya softens his tone. "Yugi, you know you can tell us anything, right?"

Yugi lets out a small sigh, before speaking. "I made…Anzu cry."

"Cry?" Honda questions. "Whoa, Yugi. I didn't know you were the rough type." At that moment, Ryuji whacks Honda on the head. "Ow! What'd you do that for?!"

"You must be an idiot Honda. This isn't the time for jokes. Yugi's serious." Ryuji tells him harshly.

Honda's face dropped, feeling guilty. He then looks at Yugi. "Hey, Yugi. I didn't mean it man. I was just trying to lighten the mood, that's all." _Seriously, we've just helped Yugi and Jonouchi to make up. Now, Yugi's made Anzu cry?_

"Putting that aside," Katsuya states, "How did you upset her?" Before Yugi could answer him, Anzu had walked into the classroom. The boys look up to her direction. Being Honda, he tried to remain 'normal'.

"So, Bakura! How's your assignment going?" He suddenly exclaims.

Katsuya thinks, _this is what you went for?_ At that point, Yugi turns his head back, facing out of the window again.

Bakura, trying to follow in Honda's footsteps, replies. "Pretty good so far. Me and Otogi have done around half of the work."

"Nice one," Honda praises them, but then he begins panicking, "Oh man! Me and Jonouchi haven't even started!"

Ryuji face palms at his stupidity. "You're kidding, right?"

Unknown to them, talking about the assignment was probably not the best course of action. Since, now they only have about 2 weeks left, and the current situation between Yugi and Anzu was not looking great. Well, they are paired up for the assignment after all. Anzu was currently sitting at her desk, with her legs crossed. She had a poker face, which could indicate that she was ignoring the boys, or she was trying not to make an obvious expression.

Trying to change the conversation, Katsuya goes and speaks with Anzu. "Morning Anzu."

She turns to him, with her usual expression. "Morning Jonouchi. Is something wrong?"

"What? No. Everything's okay here."

"Hey Anzu!" Honda pulls in behind Katsuya, and then puts his arm around his shoulder, causing Katsuya's eyebrows to twitch in annoyance. "I have a question." Bakura and Ryuji also join them.

"What is it Honda?"

"Are you currently ovulating?" If there was a word for making the whole class go silent, then Honda has said that exact word. Katsuya face palmed, as well as Ryuji, whilst Bakura walked away, trying to hide the fact that he'd actually heard what Honda said. Also, the others couldn't see but, Yugi had also face palmed.

"You idiot!" She then punched him in the face. The whole class then laughed at Honda, as he was sent flying back onto the floor.

First period. Maths. Of course, Katsuya's favourite… He was so into it, that he was secretly passing notes to Ryuji and Honda. The messages usually consisted of the inappropriate sorts. So much so, that Ryuji and Honda were trying to suppress their giggles, as was Katsuya. In the meantime, Yugi wasn't paying attention. He was avoiding the teacher's eye contact, by pretending he was engaging with the text in his maths booklet. He would occasionally glance a look at Anzu, who was actually paying attention in class. He thinks to himself, _it's best if I avoid her for the time being._

"Mr. Jonouchi!" The teacher yells unexpectedly, causing the whole class to wake up, if they weren't already awake.

Katsuya awkwardly sweat drops. "Yes sir?"

"Can you read out what's written on your note? The one that Mr. Honda just passed to you."

Honda and Ryuji being sniggering quietly. Katsuya, who had no idea what was written on the new note, gulped hard and then said something different to what actually was written down. "Our maths teacher is the best in the whole world!"

Feeling irritated, the teacher replies. "You'll stay behind for 20 minutes at lunchtime, Mr. Jonouchi."

Katsuya curses under his breath and slumps back in his seat. Bakura leans over to Ryuji and asks, "What did the note actually say?"

Ryuji whispers back. "I'll tell you some other time."

* * *

"Food glorious food! Oh yeah!" Honda happily makes his way towards Ryuji and Bakura, who were already in the cafeteria. The two of them had settled on ramen, whilst Honda decided to go with on oversized Bento box.

"Seems like your appetite is the same as ever," Ryuji says. "I'm surprised you have space for all that food."

"Strong guys like me need a lot of food," he explains, and then he strikes a self-assured pose.

"Sure…"

The three eat without speaking for a bit, until Honda decides to tell them what's been bugging him. "Do you two think that Jonouchi is still hiding something from us?"

Bakura momentarily stops eating. "No. Not that I've noticed."

"Maybe," Ryuji simply states, but then adds, "What do you think he's hiding?"

Once Honda had finished the last pieces of his…'lunch', he explains his concern. "I think Jonouchi knows why Yugi won't confess to Anzu."

"What makes you say that?"

"Just a hunch. But, I think that's why they had an argument."

"You have a point. But, we don't know for sure," Bakura explains.

"I think he might be right," Ryuji agrees with Honda, "Something similar happened when we went to that theme park. You weren't there with me and Bakura, because Anzu was too busy chasing you, but Yugi was saying that he was convinced that Anzu didn't like him. Then…Jonouchi said something about it, but I can't really remember."

"Okay then!" Honda begins, "We'll confront Jonouchi at the end of last period."

"Why?"

"Because we need to find out what's going on. We can't have our group falling apart, since now Anzu and Yugi won't speak to each other."

Ryuji narrows his eyes at him. "You do realise that you and Jonouchi always fight."

"Yes, but we're supposed to."

"You two might want to change the conversation now," Bakura hushes to them, and gestures towards the entrance, as Katsuya has just entered. Katsuya sees them and sluggishly makes his way over to them.

"So, how was your time with the best teacher in the world?" Honda teases.

"Shut up," Katsuya spats.

Meanwhile, Anzu was alone on the rooftop. She was sitting down, whilst leaning back against the grid fence. Thoughts of all sorts were flowing around in her mind. She was annoyed and confused by Yugi's words yesterday. Maybe she ought to have heard what he had to say. But, now she believes that he doesn't want her around him. _What do I do now?_ She decides to give Mai a call. Almost immediately, Mai answers. "Anzu! Hi! How are you? How was yesterday? Did you have fun?"

At that point, Anzu couldn't hold back her tears any longer and struggled to reply. "O-oh Mai, I…"

"Anzu? What's wrong!? What happened?"

"Mai, I-I'm so sorry. I-It seems we were wrong about him…"

Mai pauses for a moment. "Did Yugi reject you?"

"No. But, he said some things."

"What did he say?"

"He said something, about me forcing myself to be around him or something. I was confused and ran out crying. I thought he meant that I was an annoyance to him."

"Oh, Anzu. I'm so sorry. But, why would Yugi say something like that?"

"I don't know."

Mai sighs to herself. "I wish I could give you a hug right now. All I could suggest at this point is talking to him. It may just be a misunderstanding."

Anzu eventually stops tearing. "I hope so. I have to go now Mai."

"Okay. Do text me if you settle matters."

"I will. See you Mai."

"Bye-bye Anzu." Mai then hangs up the call. Anzu slowly rises to her feet and makes her way back to the classroom.

She returns to class. Seeing that she was nearly late, she quickly hides her phone under her desk.

The classroom bell signalled the end of the day. The teacher reminds the students of their assignment deadline, and then leaves the classroom. Yugi was rapidly putting away his things, since today he had gym. The weather didn't look too promising for his walk there. Once he was ready, he swiftly leaves the classroom, without saying goodbye to his friends.

Anzu watches him leave, wondering why he seems to be rushing on Wednesdays recently. She slowly gathers her things, says goodbye to the other boys and leaves. Once she'd left, Honda, Ryuji and Bakura surround Katsuya at his desk. He looks at them, confused. "You guys need something?"

"We want to talk to you about something," Bakura explains.

Honda quickly and aggressively slams his hands down on Katsuya's desk. Though, Katsuya didn't flinch at his action. "We want to know what's going on."

"About what?"

"About why Yugi won't confess to Anzu," Ryuji clarifies.

Katsuya breaths out and tries to act dumb. "Why would I know why?"

"Don't play dumb Jonouchi. You might as well tell us!" Honda says. He then removes his hands from Katsuya's desk. Katsuya dips his head a little.

"You know we won't tell anyone right? We're Yugi's friends and we wouldn't want to make it any more difficult for him." Bakura says kindly.

"Okay. I'll tell you guys. But, let's wait until the last remaining students go." Once Katsuya deemed the room was clear, he stands up and leans next to the classroom door. He begins, "Well, basically…"

 _Seriously Anzu. How could you forget your phone, ugh!_ Anzu was making her way back to the classroom, to reclaim her phone. Once she'd arrived outside the classroom, she was about to open it, but stopped when she heard voices on the other side. _How come some students are still here?_ Ignoring the voices, she nearly opens the door, but then pauses abruptly when she hears one of the students talking about Yugi.

"So, that's why Yugi won't try and make a move on Anzu…" Ryuji trailed off.

 _Huh? Was that Otogi's voice? What is he talking about?_

Honda let's out a guilty sigh and begins scratching his head. "Man, I wish I knew before. I didn't realise that Yugi thought that Anzu liked 'him' more."

"Yeah…" Katsuya begins, "Sorry I didn't say anything before. Yugi kind of said it out of the blue, once we'd returned to school after our trip to Egypt."

Bakura shakes his head. "Don't be sorry Jonouchi. You're just looking out for Yugi."

"But, the issue is now, is that those two aren't speaking," Ryuji points out, "I wonder what happened yesterday…"

On the other side of the door, Anzu had continued to eavesdrop. She was covering her mouth with her hand, in order to try and suppress any noise that she might make. Realising she still needs her phone, she forcefully tries to make a poker face, and then opens the classroom door, causing the four boys to panic almost. "Oh? You guys are still here?"

Katsuya inwardly sighs. _Thank goodness she didn't hear us._ "Yeah, we're just talking about maybe going to burger world or the arcade. What did you come back for?"

"My phone. I forgot I left it in the desk drawer." She casually goes to retrieve her phone. "By the way, Jonouchi and Honda, you might want to hurry and start your assignment already."

Honda sweat drops hopelessly. "But we don't want to!"

"You seriously are hopeless." Before she goes to leave, she calmly asks the boys, "Where's Yugi? He's not with you guys?"

"Nope. He seems to dashing off on Wednesdays now," Ryuji responds.

"I see. Well, see you guys tomorrow."

She softly closes the door and begins walking normally down the hallway. Once she was sure that she was far away enough from the classroom, she starts running. _Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! This is why Yugi was avoiding me. What did Honda mean by 'him'? Was he possibly referring to Atem?! Oh, Yugi…_ She quickly dashes to the shoe locker room. She notices that it's started to rain. _Great, I didn't bring an umbrella today. No, the rain isn't important right now. I've got to find Yugi._ She changes her shoes, slams her locker door shut and then hurries out of the school building.

* * *

Yugi reaches his hand out, to catch the raindrops. He was wondering if there was any point of actually working out today. He wasn't really in the right mind to, but then again, it may take his mind off things. The rain began to get heavier, but despite that, Yugi's pace remained the same. What was the point of running? Perhaps he deserves to be drenched, then he would end up getting a cold after. Karma maybe? He didn't know.

 _I don't remember the gym being this far away._ Actually, not apprehending at first, he'd stopped walking any further. He just stood there, still as a statue. It was like, his body was telling him not to move on anymore. He covers his face with his hands. He was so confused and disgusted with himself. He didn't even try to apologise to her, but for what? Making her cry? He thought he was speaking the truth. He believed that, he knew what she was thinking.

"Yugi!" Now his mind was playing tricks on him. Must be some sort of disorientated echo in the rain. He begins walking again, ignoring the somewhat sound. "Yugi!" There it was again. Now he was getting annoyed with himself. Seems his brain wants to torment him. "Yugi! Please wait!" Now he knew that someone was actually calling him. He stops and turns around to see who was calling him. He was shocked to find that Anzu was about 5 meters away from him. She had her hands on her knees and she was panting heavily, like she'd just run a marathon. "I-It took me a while, but I found you," she gasps out to him.

Yugi was beyond confused, as to why Anzu was trying to find him. She's probably here to yell at him, for having ruining her day yesterday. He stands there silently, not wanting to respond. Anzu removes her hands from her knees and stands up straight. She begins speaking again, this time her tone more agitated and loud, since the rain wouldn't be stopping any time soon. "I'm so angry and frustrated right now!"

Yugi slumps his head slightly, feeling guilty. "Anzu I…"

She quickly interrupts him. "Let me say what I want to say! Please…" Her tone dropping a little. He avoids her eyes but nods in understanding. "I'm sorry," she begins, causing Yugi to be even more confused, "I never realised that I was hurting you. I mean…I was…well happy when you told us that you were going to get stronger and all. But…you then started to distance yourself from me. I wasn't sure why. I thought you didn't want to spend time with me anymore…" She pauses for a moment. She begins again, only this time her voice much more nervous. "Y-you shouldn't compare yourself to 'him' Yugi. I…um…" She starts fidgeting. _Say it Anzu! Say it!_ "I-I just…wanted t-to say that…" _Ugh! Why is this so hard?!_

Suddenly, Anzu lashes out the words she wanted to say. "I've always liked you!"

Yugi's head springs up to look at her. _Did I hear her correctly?_ Anzu starts blushing and turns her body around to avoid Yugi. Yugi also has a slight blush on his cheeks. _She liked him?_ The rain was so loud, that Yugi could hardly hear his now racing heartbeat. He wants to reply, but unsure on where to start from. Instead, he walks up, so that he was standing behind her. "Anzu."

Anzu nearly jumps out of her skin, unaware that Yugi had moved so close to her. "Do you want to come back to mine? You know, to dry off." She audibly lets out a noise in response, that wasn't quite a word. Yugi, taking her reply as a yes, starts power walking his route back to the game shop.

The two are now currently on Yugi's sofa, covered in a mass of towels. The weather wasn't clearing up anytime soon, meaning Anzu was stuck at Yugi's for a while, not that she minded. Though, you could say she minded in a sense, since she had positioned herself quite far away from him, the towel acting as somewhat of a shield. Yugi, on the other hand, was sitting with his legs crossed, on the sofa, his hands in his lap, like a first grader, and his head titled a tad away from viewing Anzu.

Anzu was very nervous, especially since Yugi wasn't saying anything. She was scared also. Scared to know what his answer was going to be. "Anzu," Yugi addressed her, "Um…" Yugi was nervous as well.

"Y-yes?" Anzu asked quietly, keeping her current position.

"I want to apologise for making you cry yesterday. I said some things that confused you. For that, I'm sorry."

"I-I forgive you. I shouldn't have stormed off like that." The two fall silent again. _It was never this hard to speak to him before._

Yugi awkwardly rubs the back of his head. "Anzu…I…Um…" _No, I want her to look at me._ "Anzu, please look at me."

Embarrassed at first, but she does as he says. She removes one of the towels covering her head, and then she slowly turns to look at him. He looks at her softly, he sees that she's struggling to maintain eye contact. He swallows hard before speaking. "Anzu…I! I like you!" There he'd said it. Words he wanted to express to her for a long time. He quickly turns his gaze away from her, blushing madly.

Anzu was speechless. She couldn't believe that Yugi, one of her closest friends, actually liked her. She continued to look at him, seeing how anxious he was. It made her smile a little. "You really like me?"

Yugi nods in agreement.

"Oh Yugi," she says happily, her eyes starting to tear up.

Yugi looks at her and begins to worry. "Why are crying? Did I say something wrong?"

She shakes her head. "No you silly. I'm crying because I'm happy," she gives him a big smile, to reassure him. "I didn't think you liked me."

"O-of course I do! I have for a while now…I always thought that you didn't like me," he explains.

"Well, I do."

"Anzu. I have to ask. Why do you like me?"

"Why?" She thinks for a moment. "I think it's because you have so many great qualities."

"I do?"

"Yes."

"Like what?"

"Well, apart from you being the king of games, you're kind, caring, courageous, and you're always looking out for others, especially those closet to you." _And you're very attractive._

Yugi blinks several times, amazed by how much Anzu had complimented him. It made him blush a little. "I have all those qualities?" He asks uncertain.

"Yes you do. Now…let me ask you something. Why did you think that I liked 'your other self'?"

That caught Yugi off guard. "How did you know that?"

"I overheard the others today, after school."

"Oh…" he trails off. "Well…you seemed to want him more than me. I mean, I know you wanted to speak with him one last time, when I was organising my new deck. And…you were so upset to see him go. I mean, we all were. But, you really didn't want him to move on to the afterlife…so I thought that you preferred him over me."

"Do you want to know something? He was never you Yugi. I've always liked you, not 'your other self.'"

"But I thought."

She interrupts him. "I will admit that I had quite some attraction to him. But, it wasn't the same kind of attraction I had with you. It was more of wanting to understand him better as a friend. I didn't want him to leave because I cared a lot about him, because he helped you and you helped him."

"Is that really how you felt?"

"Yes, honestly. I like you."

Yugi sighs inwardly to himself, relieved that he now knows. I suppose he worried over nothing. He was happy though, to know that Anzu actually liked him, even before he completed the millennium puzzle. He begins to blush again. "S-so does that mean you'll be with me?"

Anzu looked at him weirdly, as if Yugi was slow to comprehend the situation. "Yes of course, silly. I don't want us to just be friends."

"Sorry," he says timidly, "Just making sure."

"Can we keep this a secret?" Anzu asks.

"Huh?"

"I mean just for a little bit, maybe a week or so. And it's not that I'm embarrassed by you or anything! I just don't want to tell everyone straight away, you know."

"Not even Jonouchi or the others?"

Anzu shakes her head. "Please?"

Yugi thinks about it, but understands where she's coming from. "Okay. But, we need to tell the others that we've made up. I told them that I'd upset you."

"Hmmm…" Anzu ponders, "I'll come up with something." She then places her hands on her hips. "Besides! They shouldn't get to know. I mean that jerk Honda! He doesn't understand the difference between appropriate and inappropriate."

Yugi awkwardly sweat drops at that. "That's true. He constantly teases me about you."

"He does? Well, I can believe that."

"Say Anzu. Was yesterday meant to be a date?"

"Ah," she begins blushing heavily, and her speech stutters, "W-what would m-make you s-say that?"

"You did say just the two of us."

"I-I suppose it was."

Yugi awkwardly laughs. "Sorry for ruining it."

She waves her arms up in front of him. "N-No! It's fine! It doesn't matter now. Besides…we have lots of time to spend together now."

Yugi's eyes widen slightly, at that. "Y-Yes we do," he stutters, now that a lot of naughty images have popped up in his head. _No brain! Anzu wouldn't do anything like that!_

"Hey, it's stopped raining," she states, knocking Yugi out of his senses. He turns and looks out of the window.

"Finally. It's been awful all day."

"I guess I shouldn't uphold my stay any longer," Anzu rises to her feet, "What did you want me to do with these towels?"

"Give them to me. I'll just pop them into the kitchen." He goes and does so. He returns and finds her putting on her bag pack. He goes and walks her to the door. They try and act normally, since Yugi's grandpa was running the shop. He opens the door for her and she steps out onto the steps. "I'll see you tomorrow Anzu."

"Yeah. See you," she continues down the steps. Before she makes her leave, she tells him, "Let's work on the assignment tomorrow lunch. I promise I'll be there."

"Okay."

"Bye-bye," she waves him goodbye and heads home.

Yugi watches her go, until she is out of sight. He thinks to himself how lucky he his. _I won her heart!_

"Yugi!" His happy train of thoughts are disturbed by his grandpa. "Close that door already. I know it's stopped raining, but it's still cold."

Anzu was happily humming to herself. She'd finally confessed, and now she had a boyfriend. _Squee! I'm so happy! Mai was right in the end. Oh, speaking of Mai._ She looks at her previous text messages with Mai, and also remembers that she called her today. _Sorry Mai. I can't tell you just yet. But, I'd better tell her that we've made up._


	9. Hold

**A/N: Next chapter is here! Phew. I struggled a lot with this chapter, but, I've done it…somehow. Thanks again guys for the regular reviews, they help me to continue writing this fic. A note to say that I'm moving to university this Saturday. That means my next chapter might not be up until the 7** **th** **of October. But, I might be changing the day I update, to either a Saturday or Sunday. So, the next chapter may be up on the 11** **th** **of October at the latest. Really sorry about this guys, but most likely I won't write much during my fresher's week. But, moving on from that, chapter 9 is here for you to read at least. So again guys, do enjoy the latest chapter and a review is always appreciated.**

* * *

Chapter 9: Hold

"So, yeah, it was all just a misunderstanding." Anzu was currently explaining to the rest of the gang, at break time, that the reason that she ran out crying from the bowling centre was because she was feeling upset all day. She felt stressed, got angry at Yugi and just left. Known to us though, we know that's not the case.

"Was that really it?" Katsuya asks, still uncertain with Anzu's explanation.

"Yes," Anzu lies. She looks at Yugi, in order for him to back up her claim.

"Anzu's right. I just read the situation wrong and blamed myself for it," Yugi convinces them.

Honda smiles childishly. "At least that's settled. I was worried for a moment. Hey! We should celebrate."

"What would we be celebrating?" Ryuji asks.

"The fact that we've got our gang back to the way it was."

"Honda's right. We all haven't spent time together in a while," Bakura agrees.

"Okay then. Let's all head to burger world after school," Katsuya suggests.

The gang agrees. Anzu inwardly sighs to herself. Glad that the others weren't able to pick up on her false story. She was wondering to herself if she was going to be able to keep this secret. After all, she was beginning to act shyer around Yugi, especially today when they walked into school together. Though, it seems the others weren't able to pick up on her slight change in behaviour. Good.

"What's our next period?" Honda asks the others.

"Sports," Bakura states.

"Nice! I wonder what we're doing today," Katsuya ponders.

"I think its dodgeball."

Yugi awkwardly sweat drops. Dodgeball was not his favourite, since everyone on the opposing team would aim for him first, since he was the shortest boy in the year.

"What are you doing in your class Anzu?" Yugi asks her.

"Oh, I'm actually doing my dance lessons during sports now," she explains.

"How come?" Ryuji questions.

"Since it's what I want to do in the future, my teacher recommended me doing extra lessons during the time I had sports." On que, the bell sounded to signal next period.

Anzu heads off to the dance studio, but not before shouting to Yugi. "Yugi! I'll see you at lunch!" She waves to him and continues walking.

As the boys were heading to the locker room, Honda and Katsuya were eyeing down to Yugi. "What was that about?" Katsuya asks him in a funny voice.

Yugi flinches slightly. "Oh, we are working on our assignment at lunch. I forgot to mention it. So, I won't be joining you guys."

Honda holds up his hands. "Oh no. Please go ahead, don't worry about us," he begins sniggering. Yugi rolls his eyes.

They arrive at the locker room. The coach was awaiting their arrival, as usual. He was standing with his back straight, his head high and his arms crossed. If there was a person who would be perfect for the role of training camp officer, then he would be that person. "All right you slackers! Today we're doing dodgeball! My personal favourite! You know why?! Because it separates the pansies from the champs!" He looks at his watch. "You've got 4 minutes!" He then marches out of the locker room.

The boys go to their lockers and change into their kits. "Man, he really is insane." Katsuya points out.

"I bet he does terrible with women," Honda mocks.

"And you don't piggy?"

Honda slams his locker door shut. "I hope we get to be on opposite teams. So, then I can knock your lights out!"

"Oh really…? And just who's team won last time when we played, huh?"

Honda points his finger at him. "Shut up! I don't see you pulling any girls!"

"Seems Yugi might be the one to pull them more," Ryuji suddenly says, causing Yugi to flinch and the others to stop their row.

"Why? Because he's the king of games?" Bakura assumes.

"That, and it seems Yugi's been busy," he gestures to Yugi, to show the others what he means. Yugi was about to put on his sports top, he stops to see the others staring at him.

"W-what are you guys looking at?" He asks confused.

"Since when did you work out?" Katsuya asks. Yugi looks down at his torso, and then looks at his arms. They'd become more prominent.

Yugi begins stuttering. "O-oh, I suppose sports has been helping." He quickly puts his top on. Katsuya raises his eyebrow in curiosity, but decides to brush it off for time being.

Bakura looks at his watch. "We might want to hurry guys. Coach will be mad at us again."

* * *

End of class. The boys were walking away from the sports centre and back to the main building. They were all aching. "Seriously! What the hell is that guy's problem?" Honda moans. The coach decided to, before the end of class, play dodgeball by himself, and he had managed to knock over all of the students.

"Well, it his favourite," Yugi notes, "That's probably why he takes it so seriously."

"Tsk! I'd like to knock him out just once."

"Though…" Ryuji starts, "You took it quite seriously today Yugi. You've seemed to have improved."

Yugi blinked a couple of times. "I have?" Trying to sound oblivious.

"Yeah, you were great," Bakura praises him, "The coach even noticed it. Didn't he pull you to the side to talk to you?"

Yugi scratches the back of his head. "Oh…yeah, I forgot about that."

"Wow, the coach applauses students. Never knew that," Honda says.

"A-anyway guys!" Yugi suddenly bursts out. "I need to go and see Anzu. I'll catch you guys later." And he quickly runs off, leaving the other four a bit confused.

"Umm…did I say something wrong?" Honda asks.

"You always say something wrong, piggy," Katsuya jokes.

Honda cracks his knuckles. "I could do with a fist fight right about now, Jonouchi."

"Bring it on then!"

Bakura sweat drops. "There they go again…"

Yugi arrives at the computer room. He opens it and sees Anzu already at one of the desktops. She turns, to see who had opened the door. She smiles at Yugi and ushers him over. He complies and joins her in the seat next to her. "How was dance class?" He asks her.

"Fun and tiring. How was dodgeball?"

"Hard work…the coach knocked out everyone at the end…" he explains bashfully.

"I feel sorry for you guys. Your coach is one piece of work."

"Yeah…"

"Anyway, let's get on with this."

The two of them decide to work for about 30 minutes, since they didn't have much research left to do. Once they had finished, Anzu said that she wants to eat on the roof. Yugi agrees and they go and eat their lunch.

Anzu had made her own bento box. It consisted of rice balls, tamagoyaki and karaage. "You made that yourself Anzu?"

"Yep."

"It looks so good."

"I can teach you some recipes…if-if y-you want," she says bashfully.

"Yes please. I'm really bad a cooking."

"Do want to try one of my rice balls?" She offers him.

"Sure." He then begins blushing, as she picks up the rice ball, with her chopsticks, and feeds it to him. He chews it slowly, so that he can grasp its taste.

"Well…?"

Yugi swallows it and smiles. "It's good." Anzu blushes slightly at his praise.

She then leans closer towards him, causing him to blush. "W-what is it?"

"You're wearing that cologne again," she simply points out then moves away from him, "I just like the smell."

They both continue to eat their lunch, exchanging words here and there. Once they were both finished, Yugi asks her, whilst stuttering, "A-are you f-free this Saturday?"

She turns to look at him. "I don't have plans, so yes. Why?"

"I-I thought we c-could spend the day together. You know, our first official d-date."

"O-okay," she replies, "That sounds good."

* * *

The end of the school hours came around, and the gang were currently walking towards burger world, Honda's favourite place of all time. Well, favourite in terms of food at least. Honda was walking with his hands behind his head, thinking to himself. Well, more like talking to himself. "I wonder what to get this time…hmmm…"

"How about a pork bun. It fits your name," Katsuya mocks him.

"Nah, already had that not long ago." Once they were at the front entrance, the manger himself was there personally. Honda greeted him. "I'm back again."

"Nice to see you again Honda. You've bought more guests this time," the manager responds.

Anzu and Yugi stood their dumb folded, whilst Ryuji and Katsuya sighed. "What's that about?" Yugi asks Katsuya.

"He comes here so much that he's made friends with the manager."

"I see…"

The gang follow Honda to 'his' table. The manager offers their drinks on the house. The manager takes their drinks order and leaves them to look through the menu. "Wow Honda. That's the first time he's offered us free drinks," Bakura notes.

Honda smiles weirdly. "It's the best part of being a regular."

The manager returns and takes their orders. Honda, being Honda, ordered a triple deluxe beef burger with extra onions and hot sauce. Whilst the others ordered the standard sized burgers. "I deserve it you know. After that coach made us work our butts off!"

Katsuya eyed him. "You do realise you had lunch after, right?"

"Yeah, so what? It only filled a hole for a little while."

Anzu got up suddenly, and stepped out from the table. "Where are you going?" Ryuji questions her.

"The bathroom, clearly." She then walks off. The guys wait until she's out of sight. Then, of course, Honda and Katsuya continue their teasing.

"Did you get most of your work done?" Katsuya asks Yugi.

He nods. "Yep. We're almost done."

"That was quick," Honda says innocently.

"Yeah it was…" he stops to see that Katsuya and Honda were both sniggering, as if Yugi had missed the joke. "Guys! It's not like that."

Ryuji narrows his eyes. "Do you two have to make everything sound dirty?"

"Yes!" Honda exclaims confidently.

"I don't get it," Bakura says, causing the others to sweat drop.

After a few minutes, Anzu returns from the bathroom and heads back to her friends. But before she could do so, two boys had blocked her path. "Hey babe, want to hang out with us?" One of the guys asks her, creepily.

 _Oh great…_ She politely replies. "No thank you. I'm with my friends right now." She begins walking past them, but the other boy grabs her arm, roughly.

"Come on…don't be like that. We can show you a better time."

Yugi catches site of Anzu at the other end of the restaurant. He sees that two boys are harassing her. He becomes very irritated. He follows his instincts and immediately goes to them.

"I told you no. Now let me go!" The boy's grip on her tightens.

"Hey!" Yugi shouts to them. "Leave her alone!" He then pulls Anzu towards him, causing the guy to let go of her arm.

"Tsk! Let's go man," the two boys then leave the restaurant.

Anzu looks at Yugi, who was still holding her. "T-thank you."

"Does your arm hurt?" He asks concerned.

She shakes her head. "No it's fine." She begins blushing. "Y-you can let go now."

"Huh?" He then realises that he was holding her other arm. He quickly lets go. "L-let's go join the others." She nods and the two of them return to the others, who had been watching what was going on.

"Are you two okay?" Bakura asks.

"Yeah we're fine. Just some jerks annoying me," Anzu explains. She notices, as she was sitting down, that Katsuya and Honda were eyeing to Yugi. She catches on to what they were hinting at and says, "At least Yugi came to help me. You idiots were just sitting here." That caused Honda and Katsuya to animatedly fall. Yugi inwardly smiles at that.

When the gang finished their food, they left and headed home. Yugi and Anzu waited until the others went their separate routs, so that they could walk home together, without looking suspicious to the others. Yugi says that he'll walk her home today. She complies and they slowly make their way to Anzu's house.

As they were walking, Yugi would occasionally glance at Anzu's hand. _Should I hold her hand?_ He carefully reaches for her hand. Anzu looks down to see what he was doing. She helps him out by moving her hand into his.

"Thank you Yugi," she says softly.

"What for?" He asks confused.

"For keeping this a secret. You must be finding it hard."

"That's okay. It's not too difficult."

They, unfortunately, arrive at Anzu's too quickly. He walks her up to her door. "Thank you for walking me home."

"No problem. I wanted to…" he admits.

She smiles and begins fidgeting. "Y-you like holding me today, huh?"

He was a bit confused by her choice of her words, but realised that she was telling him that he was still holding her hand. "O-oh sorry." He gently lets go of her hand.

"You don't need to apologise," she giggles slightly, "I was just messing with you. I-I like it when you do that." She then plays with her hair and looks at him. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah. See you, Anzu." She then embraces him, causing Yugi to stiffen a bit. He then relaxes, except for his heartbeat, and puts his arms around her waist. That caused her to blush a bit. _She's so soft…_ They remain like that for a few seconds, just enjoying each other's warmth.

Anzu breaks the hug, causing Yugi to frown playfully. She laughs a little at his reaction. She then heads inside. "Bye-bye," she says before closing the door.


	10. Date

**A/N: Chapter 10 Whoohoo! I've done it. Another hard chapter to write, but I did enjoy it. Thank you guys for patiently waiting for this update. So, I'm at university now and I really like it. I've met so many new people. Okay guys, update, I will try and publish my chapters weekly on Sundays now. If not, if I have a busy schedule, I will publish every 2 weeks instead. So, I hope you all enjoy the latest chapter. As always, a review is much appreciated.**

* * *

Chapter 10: Date

 _I'm late, I'm late!_ "Ouch!" Anzu tripped over her chair, causing her head to come into contact with her desk. She slowly comes into a seated position, whilst holding the back of her head to ease the throbbing pain. Why she tripped over, was to do with the fact that she was still trying to decide what to wear for her date with Yugi. Currently, she was still in her pyjamas.

After the pain went away, she stands up and walks to her open wardrobe. Facing the open wardrobe, stocked with a variety of clothing, she picks out different styles of tops and bottoms, seeing which ones would go together. "Hmm…perhaps a dress would be better…ugh! I don't know." She places the garments back into her wardrobe. Next, she jumps, face down, onto her bed. She begins acting girlie by giggling and rolling around on the covers. Eventually, she ends up wrapped up like a caterpillar. Anzu couldn't contain her excitement, after all, it was her and Yugi's first 'official' date together.

She looks at her clock, reading 10:12am. She sighs, knowing that he'll be arriving to come and get her at 11. She wriggles herself out of the covers, gets up, and returns to her position at the wardrobe. She grabs one of her dresses. It was a short blue denim skater dress. One of her new purchases when she went shopping with Mai. _This might work. I mean, it's not too formal nor too casual._ She thinks momentarily and decides to go with it, since she didn't have much time to get ready. "White tennis shoes should do fine. Now, what underwear do I wear…?" She removes her dress from the wardrobe, and in the process of doing so, she knocks over something. Confused, because she couldn't see anything at first, she kneels down and searches in her wardrobe to see what fell over. Her hand retrieved the small bag that Mai had given her, with the 'you know' what set. She peers into the bag, forgotten what she had in there, only then to shove the bag back into the depths of the wardrobe. _No way! I wouldn't be seen dead in that. How embarrassing if Yugi saw me in that. Wait. Why would he see me in that anyway?! Let alone in my underwear! Ugh, enough Anzu!_ Fed up arguing with herself, she quickly gets ready.

Once she'd put her outfit together, she viewed herself in the mirror. Trying different poses, she began to regret her choice. _Maybe shorts would've been better…_ She then glances at her clock, 10:59am. "Oh my god! He'll be here any minute! No time to worry about changing. Now, where did I put my keys…?" She finds her keys, somehow placed inside her pillow case. "Bag, bag, bag…oh here."

"Anzu!" Her mother shouted to her from the bathroom. "Are you expecting someone? I heard the door knock."

 _Ahh! He's here! Okay, breathe Anzu._ "Yes mother! I'm spending the day with a friend! I'll see you later!"

"Oh okay, darling! Have fun!"

Anzu's legs were like jelly as she slowly made her way down the stairs. You could say the tension level was relatively high at this point. Reaching the last step, her beating heart began to race. She clutches her chest and walks to the front door. _Thump…thump._ Slowly, she reaches for the handle and opens the door.

There he was. Greeting her with a smile. Anzu felt like she was going to have a heart attack at any moment. "Good morning," he greets her, "y-you look lovely."

Anzu struggled to reply. "I-I umm…m-morning…t-thank you." She felt her face become warm with embarrassment. Also, she noticed that Yugi had gone with a black denim shirt underneath his default blue jacket. She was trying not to go crazy about the fact that they both went with denim.

"Did I keep you waiting?" Yugi queries her.

She shakes her head. "No. You're right on time."

"Shall we get going? I was thinking the cinema first…but if you don't want to we can…"

She stops him by waving her arms up in front of him. "No, that's fine. A movie sounds good."

"Are you feeling all right Anzu? You seem a little tense."

Anzu relaxes slightly. "Just nervous I guess…it's our first date after all."

"O-oh right…I'm a bit nervous too." He says whilst scratching the back of his head. They both stood there quietly, briefly, until Yugi spoke again. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah," she replies and they both head towards the cinema.

The walk there seemed to last ages, Anzu thought. She desperately tried to slow down her heart rate, by breathing more steadily. Who knew that being with someone you like could have this much effect. It felt like, the feeling you get when you drop down quickly from a tall rollercoaster.

Yugi looked at Anzu, who was avoiding his gaze. She was clutching her handbag tightly. He found her bashfulness to be rather cute and somewhat amusing to him. It's the first time he's seen Anzu this exposed. Usually, she would show a strong face around everyone. Seems she does have a girlie side to her.

They both arrive at the cinema. Luckily to them, it was pretty quiet. Yugi held the door open for Anzu. She steadily walks inside, thanking Yugi as she walked past him. They both go up and view the screens that listed the movies displaying today. "What movie do you want to see?" Yugi asks her.

"Umm…let me think…" She ponders. She skims the movie titles under the different categories. Avoiding the romance movies all together. Not so much that she hated the genre, but more in the sense that she'll feel awkward throughout the entire movie. I mean think about, you're with your companion and then all of a sudden one of those naughty scenes come on. Next thing know, all sorts of dirty thoughts flood to your head…

"Anzu?" Yugi snaps her out of her thoughts.

"Huh?" She looks at him.

"Have you decided on a movie?" Anzu immediately and randomly points to one of the movies in the action genre. It was about a battle between humans and invading robots. "That one? You sure…? Wouldn't you rather see a romantic comedy?"

"No!" She abruptly blurts out, which causes Yugi to be startled a little. Realising she shouted that out, she quickly apologies, for her dramatic reaction. "I'm sorry. It's just…I was hoping to see this one, you know. I saw it advertised and it looked really interesting. Sorry again…" _Now he hates me. Well done Anzu. Let your crazy emotions get the best of you. I seriously need to calm down already._

"That's okay," he reassures her, "This movie's fine. I was kind of hoping to see this one too." _Great. That's what happens when you try and be romantic Yugi. She must've thought I was going to do something to her._

They both go to the ticket booth. Anzu places her hands on her hips. "Don't even think about paying for me. I can pay my share." She grabs her purse and hands Yugi her money.

Yugi sweat drops and doesn't argue with her. "Do you want popcorn?" He asks.

"Yes please."

Yugi holds onto the tickets for the both of them, whilst Anzu held their popcorn. They then head towards their screen number room.

They go into the room, seeing that it was almost empty, apart from the odd family and couple. "Where do you want to sit?" Yugi asks, as they make their way down the steps.

 _Anywhere but the back._ "Anywhere in the middle is fine." Yugi leads the two of them down the aisle. When he thought that they were close to the middle enough, he went down the row of seats and sat down in the middle, followed by Anzu. Once seated, Yugi offers to hold the popcorn for the two of them. The movie wasn't scheduled to start for another 10 minutes.

"You feeling okay, Anzu?" Yugi turns to look at her.

She smiles at him. "Yeah. I always feel good when I'm around you. What about you?"

Yugi blushed slightly. "I'm okay. I'm glad that we're together."

"Me too." Anzu then holds Yugi's hand. Unexpectedly, Yugi kisses the top of her hand, causing Anzu to go pink. "A-ah u-umm…"

Yugi looks at her and let's go of her palm, feeling as if he's done something wrong. "S-sorry. I don't know what came over me."

"N-no it's f-fine. I-I was j-just surprised." Yugi averts his eyes to the screen. Anzu wondered if she'd upset him. _Why is this so difficult? He just kissed your hand!_

At that point, the screen began showing advisements.

It took another 10 minutes before the movie actually started. At present, the movie was about half way in. The scene featured the main protagonist investigating one of the robot's undercover bases, which had been located underground.

The two of them had already finished their popcorn, and they've kept quiet so far. Occasionally, Anzu would glance at Yugi. She admired him a lot. "Yugi…"

"Did you say something?" He looks at her.

"Oh no. I was just um…well um…it's nothing." She quickly looks back at the screen.

The movie finished, about 30 minutes later. The two exit the cinema. "Did you like it?" Yugi asks her.

"Yeah, it was good. Better than I thought. Did you like it?"

"Yes, it was interesting." Just then, Yugi's stomach started rumbling. He blushes as Anzu began giggling.

"I'm hungry too," she admits, "let's get some lunch."

* * *

They both settle for hoisin wraps. They decide to go to the park to eat. Sitting down on one of the benches, Anzu immediately begins eating. "This is delicious," she says satisfied. Yugi then takes a bite out of his wrap.

"You're right. It is good," he agrees. "Is there anywhere in particular you want to go next?"

Anzu places her finger on her chin and thinks. "Hmmm…the arcade sounds good. I haven't been there in a while." She then smiles and looks at him. "Though most likely you'll beat me at every game."

He frowns at her slightly. "Don't put yourself down like that. You don't know until you try."

"I suppose…actually…there's something I've been wanting to ask you…"

Yugi tilts his head a fraction. "What is it?"

"I wanted to ask…if you can teach me more about duel monsters. I really want to get better at it. Seeing you and Jonouchi duel, made me want to duel. But…I won't stand a chance against anyone at the way I am now." She looks at Yugi, who had been patiently listening.

He smiles. "Of course I'll teach you more about duel monsters. I would like to have a proper duel with you one day."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Thank you so much! I hope that one day I'll become your…" She gasps and quickly covers her mouth, with her free hand. _I nearly said that out loud!_

Yugi raises an eyebrow. "What were you going to say?"

"O-oh it's nothing," she quickly changes the topic, "come on. I've nearly finished eating, so let's make our way to the arcade." She stands up and begins walking, leaving Yugi wondering what she was going to say. He decides to brush it off for time being, and gets up to go and join her.

"Oh wow! They've expanded," Yugi explains. Upon arrival, he sees that there is more spatial area, but there has also been more arcade machines added. "What did you want to play on first?"

"Oh, um. I don't really mind. You lead the way."

Yugi walks up to one of the multiplayer, first person shooter games. "How about this one? We can be on the same team."

"Okay. Do you know how to play?"

"I don't…guess we'll have to find out."

The gameplay was simple. Escape the haunted mansion. For the first minute, nothing had been happening. Just them trying doors to see if they were unlocked.

"I'm kind of waiting for something to jump out at me," Anzu says. She was currently leading. She finds an unlocked door. Heading out from it, she is welcomed by a swarm of spiders. "Oh my god, they're everywhere! I hate spiders!" She continuously holds down the trigger button. Yugi found himself laughing. "What's so funny?"

"You going mad," he admits, and his character joins her in the room with the spiders.

It took them three attempts to escape the mansion. "That took way too long…"

"At least we did it." The two leave the machine to go and find something else to play. As they were observing some of the other players, Anzu noticed a crane machine, consisting of cute plushies. Her woman instincts kicked in and she finds herself in front of the machine. Yugi sees that Anzu has left his side. He looks around and finds her staring at one of the crane machines.

He goes and joins her. He sees that her eyes were all wide. "I want one of them…" she says playfully. She takes out some of her coins. "I'm going to get one!"

Five minutes later, Anzu was sitting on the floor, with her head in her knees. Yugi leaned down next to her. "I'll try and get you one." She turns her head to look at him, giving him a pouty look. _She's so cute._

Yugi takes his coins and place's them into the machine. "Winner!" The machine announces. Anzu straight away gets up and turns to look at Yugi. She was surprised to find that not only had he won, but he was holding two plushies. He had an alpaca plushie and a panda plushie. Yugi hands them both to her. "Told you I'd get you one," he says with a smile.

Anzu shakes her head. "I can't have both of them. I'll take the alpaca." She then takes it from him. "Aww it's so cute. T-thank you…"

"You're welcome," he says shyly.

After another hour of playing in the arcade, the two decide to call it a day. Yugi was now walking Anzu back to her house. "Today was so much fun," Anzu says. She holds her plushie in front of her, to get a good look at it. "Thank you again for getting me this."

"It's no problem. Besides, I got one too."

"Yugi…" Anzu stops walking.

He stops too. "Yes?"

She didn't reply, but instead she held her alpaca close to her chest. Yugi turns his body around to face hers. "Anzu? What…" He stopped and gazed into her eyes. She stepped closer to him, but not quite touching each other. Yugi's eyes enlarged and he felt his face become warm.

Anzu bit her lip. She then began to lean closer to him. Yugi didn't catch on straight away, but realised what she wanted to do. He too began to lean closer to her. He tilted his head up slightly and focused on her lips.

"Well, what have we here?" Came a voice not too far from them.

The two immediately flinch back from each other, blushing. They turn to see who had interrupted them. It was…

"I've been looking now for a while to find you, so called king of games."

"Kaiba?"


	11. Dirty Duelling

**A/N: Chapter 11 is here! Thank you guys for your patience again. Had a little bit of a writer's block, but only for about 2 days.** **Sorry I couldn't put this up last Sunday guys. I didn't finish it, and it wouldn't be fair if I had rushed through it. So, I've decided that I will post a new chapter every 2 weeks instead. I'd rather give you all quality after all, since you've all been reading my story so far. Which, I thank you all so very much for! Started watching anime again, since I was mostly just reading manga all of the time. I highly recommend Danganronpa the animation, which is based off the game. If you guys like survival kind of anime then you'll love this one. Back to the story at hand, please enjoy my latest chapter guys. As always, a review is appreciated.**

* * *

Chapter 11: Dirty Duelling

"Kaiba?" Yugi was surprised that Kaiba was looking for him, and that he'd interrupted his moment with Anzu. Perfect. He had to know.

Kaiba was by himself this time, wearing his usual attire. He was poised in the way he typically is, arms folded and all. What could he possibly want?

"Pardon me for interrupting your childish activity, but I have something I want to discuss with you," Kaiba states boldly.

Yugi turns his body to face Kaiba. "What is it?"

"I'm sure you remember what I said to you the last time we saw each other."

Yugi nods in response. _Yes. He wants to duel 'me' this time._

He begins smirking. "Well, in four months, we shall duel."

Yugi became confused. "Huh? Why four months?"

"No offence Yugi, I respect you as a duellist and all, but at your current level you have no chance of defeating me."

"What do you mean by that?!" Anzu butted into their conversation. "Are you forgetting that Yugi himself defeated Atem?"

Kaiba's smirk lowered. "Of course not. The only reason he won that duel was because he knew all of his tactics. Naturally, Yugi would have come up with a way to overcome that."

Anzu became angry. "Yugi fought Atem fair and square. Yugi has gotten much stronger now and can easily beat you!"

"Humph. If only I could believe that."

"But…!" Yugi stopped her by holding onto her arm.

He looks at her with a reassuring smile. "It's okay Anzu." He then let's go of her and redirects his attention back to Kaiba. "I'll be ready for our duel, Kaiba."

"Good. We shall see if you really deserve that title. Anyway, I have business to attend to. I'll be sure to give you the heads up of when our duel will be set." With that, Kaiba turned away from them and headed to the parked limo which was waiting for him.

Anzu clenched her teeth. "That guy is such a jerk. Even after all this time."

* * *

The next day. "What!?" Katsuya grabbed Yugi by the shoulders, shocked at what he'd just said.

"Yeah, Kaiba said that." Yugi sweat dropped at his friend's reaction.

Yugi was currently in his bedroom. He asked for Katsuya, Honda and Bakura to come and visit him. Ryuji was unable to come, due to some business that needed taken care of at his game shop. After what had happened yesterday, Yugi knew he had to explain the situation to his friends.

Katsuya let out a huge sigh, and withdrew his hands from Yugi's shoulders. "Kaiba is the same as ever I see. But, man! Just who does he think he's talking to?"

"Yet, he must see Yugi as an equal," Bakura points out.

Katsuya became confused at his choice of words. "You're kidding right? From the way it sounded, Kaiba must've forgotten who exactly the king of games is."

Bakura pressed his hand to his chin. "It might come off like that, but, I believe that Kaiba sees Yugi as a willingly opponent. Sure, both Yugis worked together when duelling Kaiba before. But, if Kaiba directly wants to challenge Yugi on his own, it must only mean that he respects Yugi as a fellow duellist."

Katsuya scratches his head. "I guess so...but why wait? I have no doubt that Yugi could easily…" He stops suddenly.

"Something wrong Jonouchi?" Yugi asks him.

From where he was standing, Katsuya noticed the small panda plush which had been supposedly pushed out of view, under Yugi's bed. Katsuya narrowed his eyes and began smirking at Yugi. "Is that a present for a certain someone?"

Yugi blinked a couple of times. "What is?" Katsuya averted the boy's attention to under his bed, the others looked too. Yugi gasped inaudibly. _Why did he have to see that? Now what do I say?_ Yugi tried to put on a straight face. "N-no. I got this from the arcade."

Honda spoke. "You went to the arcade without us?!" He began animatedly crying. "How could you be so mean…?"

The other boys sweat dropped. "Yeah sorry Honda. But, I only went for a little bit. I just decided at the last moment."

"Oh, that makes sense," Bakura says.

"But why get a panda, Yugi?" Katsuya asks him. "Oh…I see. You going to give it to Anzu aren't you."

Yugi blushed slightly. "N-no, why would I?"

"Oh come on…It's obvious that's why you got it."

 _No! I originally got it for Anzu but ended up unintentionally winning two plushies. She took the alpaca plushie instead and let me have this one. But, I can't tell you all that because yesterday was our date and I promised not to say anything about it to you guys. Agh! Why is this so difficult?_

"Back to what you were saying before Jonouchi…" Honda changes the conversation.

"What about it?" Katsuya asks him.

"There might be another reason why Kaiba's decided to prolong the duel."

"What other reason?"

"Well, I'm not sure if you guys have heard of the recent rumours going around but, a couple of weeks ago, I overheard in the neighbourhood that there's this thing going around called 'dirty duelling.'"

Katsuya sighed. "Look piggy, we don't want to know what the new fad is from one of your carnal websites."

"You idiot! I'm being serious about this. Because of this many duellist aren't duelling anymore."

Yugi was shocked by this. "Is that true Honda?"

"It is a rumour, but it could be the reason why Kaiba doesn't want to duel you yet."

"A rumour is just a rumour. Kaiba's just being a big jerk about not wanting to duel Yugi right now. A bet he's doing it because he doesn't have what it takes to stand up to the king of games," Katsuya faces Yugi with his hands clenched, "right Yugi?"

"I guess…" he says unsurely. _I wonder if it's true though. To think that some kind of duelling could allegedly cause duellists to stop playing duel monsters._

 _Knock, Knock…_ They heard from the door.

"Yugi? Can I come in?" Asked his grandpa from the other side of the door.

"Come in grandpa!"

Sugoroku enters. "I just came to see if you all wanted any drinks?"

"I'm good thanks grandpa. Did you guys want anything?"

"Thank you, but I'm all right," Bakura politely declines.

"I'm good thanks," Katsuya declines.

"Thanks but no…" Honda also declines.

"Now this is a surprise. You always have soda every time you visit Honda. Are you not feeling well?" Sugoroku asks him.

"I did have soda earlier today. That might be it," he explains.

Sugoroku senses the dull vibe around everyone. "What's really going on? I can read the atmosphere. Did something happen?"

"Well…" Bakura starts, "apparently less people are playing duel monsters…according to Honda."

Sugoroku lets out a disappointing sigh. "So you've heard then…about 'dirty duelling'."

"Wait, you know about this grandpa?" Yugi enquires.

"Isn't it just a stupid rumour?" Katsuya assumes.

"I'm afraid it's true," Sugoroku sadly points out, "but there's more to the story." Sugoroku goes and sits down on Yugi's desk chair, arms folded. "It started about two weeks ago. A duel monsters tournament was held in Tokyo. Typically, only duellists of certain ranks were allowed to enter. They conducted a series of preliminary rounds to determine these duellists." He stops and closes his eyes to think momentarily. "The first couple of rounds went smoothly and fairly, but that went downhill in the third round. An untitled duellist, wearing a mask, used a specific type of duel disk that was not invented by Kaiba cooperation. The disk seemed harmless at first, but when the duellist attack the opposing duellist with a monster card, the duellist was physically injured."

The boys were shocked at this news. "How were they physically injured grandpa?" Yugi asks him.

"Well, the duellist's arm began bleeding because it had been burnt."

The boys all gasped. "That's crazy!" Katsuya exclaims.

"That's not all. The burnt duellist continued, but eventually surrendered, due to the pain. I was surprised by what happened next. The untitled duellist took their cards and burnt them to a crisp."

"How awful…" Bakura says sadly.

"But, maybe it was an act put on by the tournament holders or something," Honda suggests.

Sugoroku shakes his head. "The people in charge of the tournament were shocked as everyone else. They announced that they had nothing to do with it. Also, because of the casualty, they had to cancel the tournament all together. Security tried to locate the untitled duellist, but no matter where they looked, they couldn't find him."

"Has this happened again?" Katsuya asks.

"Not on TV, but I've been hearing around that it's starting to spread across Japan. Therefore, it's not just the one duellist who is doing this."

"He's no duellist grandpa," Yugi begins, a slight serious tone in his voice. "That person has no respect for duel monsters. They must be trying to hurt players in order to prevent people from duelling anymore."

"But why?" Honda questions. "What possible reason could someone have for wanting to hurt others?"

"I don't know…"

The boys remain silent for a few minutes, trying to process the information that's been given to them. Someone trying to force others to stop duelling? Why?

"Listen, all of you," Sugoroku grabs the boys' attention, "I know what you are all thinking, but, none of you are to get involved."

Yugi immediately rises to his feet. "But grandpa! We can't let this problem continue, we have to…"

Sugoroku becomes angry. "Enough Yugi!" Sugoroku stands up and faces Yugi. "I know you want to do something about this, I do too. I would feel awful if something bad happened to you. So promise me not to get involved."

Yugi didn't speak, but nodded his head to show he understood.

"Well good. I must get back. Can't leave your mother to handle the shop all day." And with that, Sugoroku left the boys.

Once he was gone, Katsuya looked at Yugi and began smiling. "I know that look Yugi. There's no way we're ignoring this."

"You got that right," Honda agrees.

Yugi smiles at them. "Thanks guys. I know I shouldn't, but I love this game so much. I can't just sit back and let whoever is doing this get away with it."

"If that's how you feel, then I will help you too," Bakura says, "I'll be sure to let Otoji know about the current situation."

"Thank you Bakura."

"But, where are we supposed to start? I mean, we have no idea how to find this guy," Honda states.

The boys all think for a moment. What were they going to do? Could duel monsters really cause pain towards a fellow duellist? It doesn't make sense. Perhaps a deeper meaning is hidden under all of this. In any case, this situation must be stopped.

"I have an idea," Yugi explains, "Bakura, you're good with computers. Why don't you look further into the Tokyo case, see if you can find out something."

"All right, I'll try my best," Bakura agrees.

"Jonouchi, Honda. Let's have a look around town to see if we can find anything related to this incident. If this is starting to occur over Japan, we might find someone who's witnessed this."

Katsuya and Honda nod in agreement. "Good idea Yugi. We'd best let Anzu know about this too," Katsuya mentions.

Yugi inwardly gasps. He'd forgotten that Anzu doesn't know about this. _I don't want Anzu to get involved in this. This is bad. Anzu asked me to teach her more about duel monsters. But, if there's a person or possibly a group plotting out to hurt duellists, and to force them to give up on the game…I can't let her know about this. I couldn't bear it if she became a victim of it._ "W-we don't have to explain it to her right away," he insists.

"Why not?" Katsuya asks dumbly.

"Well…"

"Isn't it obvious Jonouchi? He doesn't want her to know, because he doesn't want her to get hurt," Honda explains amusingly.

"But Anzu doesn't duel a whole lot. I'm sure we can tell her," Bakura clarifies.

Yugi tries to put on a poker face, in order to not respond to Bakura's statement. Katsuya raises an eyebrow at him. "Is there something going on between you and Anzu, Yugi?"

"Of course there isn't," he lies. _This would be so much easier if they already knew._

Honda stands up. "Come on guys, we shouldn't wait any longer. Let's find this creep and teach him a lesson."

Bakura said he'll give Ryuji a call and tell him what they're up to. He explains that he'll begin his research on the Tokyo duel tournament right away, and see if he can find out more about the untitled duellist. He'll present his findings to them tomorrow, at school.

The others, Yugi, Katsuya and Honda, head towards town. They start off with their usual arcade and game shops. So far, from asking the staff members, they don't find any luck with regards to the Tokyo incident nor any mentions of the specific duel disk.

Next, they try comic books stores, located inside the shopping mall. Disappointingly, everyone they asked had no clue to the untitled duellist. The boys decide to stop and take a rest at their local park. "Man…this is harder than I thought," Katsuya exclaims, as he rests his hands behind his head. "Maybe there hasn't been any duels like that around this area."

"That could be it. But, oddly enough, we haven't run into any duellists yet. Don't you think that's a little weird?" Yugi asks them.

"You're right. I didn't notice at first," Honda points out, "usually there would be at least one duel going on somewhere."

"Tsk. What the hell is going on around here?" Katsuya asks himself.

* * *

At five, the boys parted, and settled on waiting until they heard something from Bakura. As Yugi was walking home, his phone began ringing. He reaches into his pocket to see who is calling. Anzu. He answers the phone. "Hi Anzu."

From the other end of the phone. "Hi, I was just calling to ask how you were."

"Oh, I'm doing okay. How about you?"

"I'm fine. Just happy to hear your voice." Yugi smiled at that. "O-oh sorry, that sounded really corny, huh?"

"No it's fine. I'm happy to hear your voice too."

Anzu pauses briefly. "Yugi…is everything okay?"

"Huh? Yes, why do you say that?"

"You sound troubled by something."

"I do?"

"Yes, you do."

"It must be your imagination, I'm fine really."

"If you say so…but you would tell me if something was wrong, right?"

"Of course I would." _I can't believe I'm lying to her._

"U-umm Yugi?"

"Yeah, what it is?"

"I've decided that we should tell the others…together, u-um this Wednesday."

"Really? You sure?"

"I'm sure. We can't keep it a secret forever," she laughs awkwardly over the phone. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you…"

Yugi ended the call. He's glad that he'll be able to tell the others about him and Anzu. At least then nothing will need to be kept hidden. Well…apart from…

"Let's duel!" Yugi heard shouting not too far from him. He follows the chanting. Once he'd found where the noise was coming from, he finds that a circle of people have gathered around two duellists, located near one of the 'bad' parts of his neighbourhood. He decides to observe the duel, considering that it's got a lot of attention for some reason. Hold on. One of the duellists is…

"You're going down whoever you are! You've made a big mistake challenging my insect deck," described the duellist.

The other duellist didn't respond.

"Huh? Don't talk a lot do you? Is that because you wear a mask?" The duellist activated his duel disk.

Following on from him, the other duellist activates his duel disk as well.

 _Wait a minute._ Yugi thinks. _That duellist is Haga. But, the other one is a complete mystery. And what's with that duel disk…oh no. I-it can't be! Can it…?_


	12. Awkward

**A/N: And chapter 12 is here! Hello my fellow readers, I hope you're all enjoying this so far. Did you all have a good Halloween? Not much to report on at the moment but I will tell you all this in advanced, but I will not be writing out 'duels' specifically, because I don't know the game that well and of course this is a romance/comedy fic so it would be going outside my genre a little bit. Yet, the duels will be implied because this is Yu-Gi-Oh after all. So, yeah… This chapter is a bit short than my previous ones, I hope that's not a problem…Thank you all so much again for the reviews, favourites and follows, it's what keeps me going! So my readers, enjoy the latest chapter and as always, a review is much appreciated.**

* * *

Chapter 12: Awkward

"Let the duel between Insector Haga and the challenger begin!" The crowd began to cheer as the duel went underway.

Yugi thinks, _this isn't good. Haga has no idea who that duellist really is. Haga could become seriously injured, though, Haga is a strong duellist so he might just survive this. But still…_

"No way! Hey everyone, the king of games is here!" Someone yelled from within the mass.

Yugi was knocked out of his thoughts, when a group of girls quickly came up in front of him. "Oh my god, it is you! We love you so much!"

Yugi awkwardly smiles. "Umm, thanks I guess…"

Another girl speaks. "Oh my, you're so much better looking in person. Are you dating anyone?"

Yugi felt really uncomfortable. "Well, actually…"

"Hey!" Yugi was interrupted by Haga, who seemed to be agitated with him. "Do you mind Yugi Muto? You're stealing my limelight! This crowd is here to watch me duel! How am I supposed to concentrate with you taking away my audience?"

"Why don't you watch your tone? This is the best duellist in the world. Just what gives you the right to speak to him that way? Show some respect!" One of the girls retaliated.

"He is right in a way," Yugi admits, "We should watch Haga's duel."

"Oh all right," the girls moaned.

Yugi decides to observe the duel, especially the peculiar duel disk the challenger is using. Yugi hopes that he is wrong, and that Haga won't get injured. Knowing the previous duels Yugi has experienced with Haga, he might just win this without being attacked.

As the duel began, Yugi carefully examined the masked duellist. Nothing struck out to him as being strange from the way the duellist played their cards at first. To be perfectly honest, the duellist did attack Haga with monster cards, decreasing Haga's points, but Haga was uninjured as a result. Now Yugi was more confused. Perhaps what his grandpa told him was an act after all, but they wanted their audience to believe it was true. But that doesn't make any sense. Why go through all the trouble of hosting a duelling tournament in Tokyo, only for it to be cancelled via a duellist becoming injured?

"Ow!" Haga suddenly yelped. He falls onto his left knee, whilst his right hand clutched his left shoulder.

Yugi didn't understand what had just happened. He watched them both so closely, and the mask duellist didn't even move. Somehow, Haga had been attacked without anyone knowing. "What's wrong Haga?!" Yugi ran closer to him.

"N-nothing! I'm fine!" Haga lies, as he tries to hide is wounded shoulder, which now had blood coming out from it.

"You're not fine Haga! You're bleeding."

Haga returns to his feet. "Like I said, this is nothing."

"Haga, you should stop this duel. This masked duellist is dangerous. If you continue…"

"I don't care what you have to say! I'm continuing this duel," he ignores Yugi's warning. The crowd start cheering, encouraging Haga to keep going.

This is crazy! Haga is bleeding and he still wants to continue? This doesn't look good for the fellow duellist.

"Seems you like to fight dirty! I don't know how you did it, but regardless, I will beat you!" Haga declares to the challenger.

"But Haga…!" Yugi urges.

"Stand back, Yugi! I'll make this quick!"

The audience gasped in horror, as Haga was miserably defeated. He had gained more injuries throughout the duel, but despite that, Haga didn't let it bother him. Also, the masked duellist still didn't do anything that would have caused Haga's wounds.

After Haga's defeat, the masked duellist walked up to him. "Yeah? What do you want?" Haga asks harshly.

The masked duellist didn't reply, instead, he forcefully removed Haga's duel disk from his arm. Next, he removed all the deck of cards. He lets go of the duel disk, so that it slams onto the ground. Haga becomes infuriated. "Just what do you think you're doing!? That's my deck!"

Ignoring the protests from the boy, the duellist takes a few steps back, lights a lighter, and ignites the deck. Haga, Yugi and the crowd watch as the deck falls to the floor. The flames become bigger. The masked duellist turns around and quickly leaves the scene.

Haga reaches his arm out. "No! My deck! Ow!" Haga winces, and quickly clutches his left side.

Yugi runs to his side. "Haga!" Yugi looks at the bewildered crowd. "Someone call an ambulance!"

* * *

The following day…Monday. Yugi, Katsuya and Honda were currently waiting for Bakura to arrive. The boys decided to meet at school early, before classes started. Yugi had yet to tell the others about what had happened yesterday. "Seriously, what is taking Bakura so long? He's usually the one who's here before us," Honda moans as he stretches his arms.

"Quit complaining piggy. The school's gates aren't even open yet, so it's not a problem if he's a little late," Katsuya explains causing Honda to become irritated.

"You know Jonouchi? You always try to find a way to annoy me, maybe you should get a new hobby already."

"I don't think I will."

"Sorry for making you wait guys!" Bakura called out to the others as he was running towards them. He stops in front of them, and places his hands on his knees, whilst panting heavily.

"Geez Bakura, you look like you've just run a race," Honda notes.

Bakura caught his breath before speaking again. "I was printing off the information that I found," he then hands each of them a copy. "I couldn't find anything else to do with the Tokyo duelling tournament or the untiled duellist, but I did find this." He refers them to the paper he gave out to them.

"What is it? It looks like a website," Yugi comments.

"Indeed it is. This wasn't easy to find. What I've given to you, is the home webpage of the 'dark corporation," Bakura explains.

The others examine the sheet of paper. The website's background was completely coated in black. However, in the middle of the page was a white coloured web link which read, 'dirty duelling.'

"What exactly is this website, Bakura?" Katsuya asks.

"Well, as I said before, this is the 'dark corporation' website. This is no ordinary website though, as you cannot find it if you search through a search engine. I found out about it through a series of blogs."

"So how did you get to the website?" Yugi questions.

"I managed to find an anonymous writer, through a long chain of web links, which said you need to perform a sequence of steps online in order to access the website. I followed the steps accordingly. Once I'd completed the process, my desktop screen went blank at first, but after about 30 seconds, the website appeared. However, that was all I could access. I tried the 'dirty duelling' link, but, a password screen showed up. So it seems only members of this 'dark corporation' can access the rest of the website."

"It seems they don't want the public to find out what they're up to," Yugi points out. "But, this is a clue at least. If we could figure out this password, we may be able to find out just what this 'dirty duelling' is all about."

"How are we going to figure out the password though? It could be a sequence of random numbers for all we know," Honda explains.

"That's true. But, I know something else," Yugi clarifies.

"What is it Yugi?" Katsyua asks him.

"Well, yesterday…" he begins, "I saw Insector Haga duel a masked duellist."

The other boys were shocked. "No way. What happened?" Katsuya allows him to continue.

"It was strange, because the masked duellist didn't so much as do anything when Haga suddenly became injured in the duel. Also, Haga's cards were burnt and the masked duellist quickly left. Another thing, was that Haga's wounds weren't just flame wounds. He had wounds such as cuts and bitten marks." Yugi paused. "I tried to warn him, but he wouldn't listen."

The school gates opened and other students began to arrive, including Anzu who had spotted them. She waves at them to get their attention. They all notice her and drop the current conversation. The boys quickly hide their sheets of paper. "Morning everyone," she greets them cheeringly.

"Morning Anzu. You're in a good mood today," Bakura greets her back.

"I suppose it's because I had a good sleep," she assumes. "How is everyone?"

"Not bad. But I hate Mondays…" Katsuya yawns.

"Come on, we might as well head inside," Honda says and the gang start walking towards the entrance.

As they were walking, Anzu quickly and slyly grabs Yugi's hand, giving him a piece of scrunched up paper. He looks at her and she responds by winking at him. Once they were at their shoe lockers, Yugi unravels the paper. _"Hiya Yugi. I was wondering if you wanted to come back to mine today for dinner? I could teach you how to make chicken katsu, since you said you wanted to learn how to cook."_ Once he'd finished reading the note, he turns to look at Anzu, who was already looking at him. He smiles at her and nods his head. She smiles back.

* * *

"I'm home!" Anzu calls out as she and Yugi step into her house. "Mother? Are you home?" Anzu removes her shoes and goes to the kitchen, finding that it is empty. She sees that a note has been stuck to the fridge. _"Hi darling, going to be late today. I'll buy myself some dinner, so you just make enough chicken katsu for the two of you, okay? Love you darling."_

"Hey, Anzu?" Yugi says to her.

 _Why did you have to be late today mother? N-now I'm alone with Yugi…in my house…why!?_

"Anzu?"

"Hmmm?" Anzu finally responds, turning around to face him. "Sorry, did you say something?"

"Are we…alone?"

Anzu began blushing. "I-it seems so," she says awkwardly.

"You trust me don't you?"

That surprised Anzu a little. "Of course I do. I know you wouldn't do anything weird."

"Just making sure. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable."

Anzu smiles and goes closer to him. "I couldn't feel uncomfortable around you Yugi." She then hugs him and he immediately hugs her back. After a while, she breaks the hug. "Shall we go to my room?"

"O-okay," he responds timidly. She holds his hand and leads him up to her room. _This will be the first time that I've been in her room. I'm so nervous._

"Here we are," she announces as she opens the door. Yugi was amazed to see how girlie her room actually was. She's quite tough on the outside usually, but she is still a girl on the inside. Her room was very tidy and it smelt a lot like her. He follows her inside. "Please do sit down," she offers as she closes her bedroom door.

Feeling unsure he asks. "Where should I sit?"

"The beds fine," she says, almost too casually. Yugi awkwardly sits on her bed and she goes and joins him. "You okay?" She asks him, noting his stiffness.

"Y-yeah, just the fact that this is the first time I've been in your room…"

"Oh, yeah it is." She begins playing with her hair. She looks at him and leans close, so that her breath was near his neck. "I…really like your scent."

Yugi shudders. "Anzu!" He then swiftly looks at her and pushes her back down onto her bed. He quickly climbs on top of her.

Anzu was shocked by Yugi's reaction. "Yugi?"

He looks at her half seriously and half awkwardly. "F-forgive me." He then begins leaning closer to her.

Anzu's eyes widen and her cheeks begin to heat up. _He's going to kiss me!_ Anzu watches him closely, but then slowly begins to dip her eyelids. _He's breath and body are so close to mine…_

 _Beep! Beep!_ Anzu and Yugi suddenly freeze as Yugi's phone suddenly went off. He blushes madly and quickly removes himself from Anzu, who was also blushing madly. He answers his phone. "H-hello?"

"Hey, Yugi," it was Katsuya. "Bakura was meant to tell you this at school, but you'd already left, but on the back of the piece of paper is a sentence of instructions on how to access the 'dark corporation' website. I was going to check it out now, see if I could figure out the password."

"Oh okay, thanks for letting me know."

"You okay, Yugi? You sound troubled."

"Nope, I'm fine, I'll speak to you tomorrow."

"Okay, see you Yugi." Yugi then hangs up the phone. He eventually turns to look at Anzu, who was keeping quiet. "Sorry about that."

"T-that's all right. It's no problem," she reassures him. "How about we start on the dinner? It takes at least 40 minutes."

"Okay, yeah…" Yugi turns away from her. _Where did that come from? It was like my body all of a sudden reacted. But, she didn't stop me, so I think she was okay with it._

"Ready?"

"Yeah," they both then leave her bedroom.


	13. Reveal

**A/N: Presenting chapter 13, yes! I'm so happy that this story is going so well. You are all amazing! Keep being amazing! Have any of you guys seen Mokuba's new look for the upcoming movie? Well, he got an upgrade, big time. Not much else to say expect that I hope you enjoy the latest chapter. As always, a review is much appreciated.**

* * *

Chapter 13: Reveal

Anzu was currently gathering the ingredients that they needed to make the chicken katsu. "Yugi. Do you mind turning on the oven?"

"Oh, sure," he makes his way over to the oven, "what mark?" He asks.

"200."

Yugi turns the switch to that temperature and then goes and joins Anzu next to the counter. "Okay, so first things first, we need to beat one large egg," she hands Yugi a whisk. Anzu cracks the egg into a bowl. Yugi then starts whisking the egg.

Once he was done, Anzu dips the pieces of chicken into the egg, and then sprinkles some bread crumbs onto the chicken. She next places the pieces of chicken onto a baking tray, which she then puts into the oven.

"Okay, next is the curry," Anzu explains, "Can you please fill this pan with some water?"

Yugi nods and takes the pan from her and heads over to the sink. Meanwhile, Anzu begins chopping up some garlic. Yugi returns to the counter and places the pan onto the hob. Anzu adds the garlic into the pan. The two of them then add the remaining ingredients into the pan. "All we have to do now is wait for about 10 minutes, then we can start heating the rice."

"Thank you for the meal," Yugi thanks Anzu before he begins eating.

Anzu smiles at him and starts eating.

"It's good," Yugi compliments.

"I'm glad you like it. Now that you know how to make it, you can enjoy it with your grandpa."

"Yeah."

Anzu takes a couple more bites before speaking again. "I been thinking about how I could alter my deck to make it better…"

Yugi looks up from his food. "Oh, I see…did you come up with anything?"

She shakes her head. "No, there's still so much I need to learn."

"Don't worry I'll help you…just maybe another time, okay?"

"Sure, thank you Yugi."

After another hour, Yugi leaves, thanking Anzu for the dinner.

* * *

Wednesday. It was the morning. Anzu and Yugi were currently walking to school, hand in hand. Today was the day, in which they were going to tell the others about their relationship. "I'm quite nervous…" Anzu trails off.

Yugi looks at her with a kind smile. "I am too, but don't worry. Once we tell them it'll be a lot easier."

"I know…but you realise Honda and Jonouchi are just going to act like a bunch of idiots."

Yugi sweat drops at that. "I guess so…"

The two walked down the hallway of the classrooms. They both stop outside their classroom door. "Ready?" Yugi asks. She nods in response and he slides open the door.

"Good morning Yu…" Katsuya stops mid-sentence, seeing that Yugi and Anzu enter through the door, holding hands.

"Hmmm? Why'd you stop Jonouchi?" Honda asks him, noticing his friend's jaw dropping. Katsuya points out to Honda as to why he'd stop. Honda turns to look at Yugi and Anzu and then joins Katsuya in his jaw dropping.

"Oh? What's this?" Ryuji asks.

"Morning everyone…" Yugi begins, "umm, you see…Anzu and I are together now…so…"

The classroom was silent for a brief moment. Bakura decides to break the silence. "That's great you two. I'm so happy for you."

"What Bakura said," Ryuji agrees, "It's about time if you ask me."

"Thanks you two," Anzu says. She turns to look at the two idiots with their mouths wide open. "And just what are you two morons doing? Cover your mouths already, nobody wants to see your gobs."

"Is this reality?" Honda says hopelessly. Katsuya whacks him in the face. "Hey! What the hell was that for?!"

"Duh it's reality, piggy," he says obviously. Katsuya begins smirking, "took you long enough Yugi," he gives him the thumbs up, "I knew you could do it."

"So…did you tell each other just now?" Honda questions.

Anzu and Yugi sweat drop. Anzu speaks slowly. "Actually, we've been together for a week now…"

Katsuya and Honda animatedly fall, but both immediately jump back up again. "What?!" They both exclaim and the two of them huddle around Yugi.

Katsuya grabs Yugi's shoulders, in a playful way, and begins shaking him. "Why didn't you tell us right away Yugi? Man, you had me worrying over nothing."

Yugi removes Katsuya's hands from him. "It's not like I didn't want to Jonouchi, but I promised Anzu that I would keep it a secret for a while," he explains.

Honda looks at Anzu. "Why didn't you want to tell us Anzu?"

"Well…I suppose it's because I didn't want anyone to know right away, I don't know, perhaps I just wasn't ready for anyone to know about it," she clarifies.

"Oh, I see," Bakura understands, "but at least we know now, so there's no need to hide it anymore."

"Yeah…" Honda says mischievously whilst sneering at Katsuya, who was doing the same thing back at him.

 _What the hell are those two thinking?_ Ryuji thinks to himself.

Katsuya folds his arms. "Well I'm happy for the two of you. Just remember to always use protection."

"Jonouchi!" Yugi exclaims, whilst blushing heavily.

Ryuji outwardly sighs. _Seriously, how did I guess that I wonder?_

"And since you're into leather and collars Yugi, just be careful when trying…"

Anzu didn't let him finish his sentence as she punched Honda and Jonouchi in the face, sending them flying back onto the ground. Her face was irritated and her fists were still clenched. "You idiots! Get your minds out of the gutter!"

The two of them slowly get up, whilst holding their cheeks. "Geez Anzu, we were only joking," Katsuya excuses.

"Yeah, what the hell Anzu?" Honda moans.

The two wince in fear and quickly grab a hold of each other, as Anzu makes a scary face. She begins cracking her knuckles. "I'm sorry but…did you two say something just now? I couldn't hear you over my thoughts of beating the crap out of the two of you!"

"Have mercy Anzu!" The two yell stupidly. The two of them let go of each other and run past her out of the classroom. She runs after them.

"Get back here you two!"

"Seems everything went okay," Bakura states.

"If you say so Bakura…" Ryuji says.

During break…

 _"_ _Hey Mai, sorry I didn't tell you about this straight away, but me and Yugi have been together for about a week now. Thank you for helping me out by the way, you really gave me a push. Let's meet up again soon okay?"_ Anzu finishes her text and sends it.

"Oh no," Yugi exclaims almost inaudibly as he goes to pick up his bag. _I completely forgot to pick it up._

Anzu hears him. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" He asks her, thinking that she didn't hear him.

"Well you just said 'oh no,' so I thought that something may be wrong."

"Oh well, um, I was just thinking that…we have our presentation to do this Friday," he quickly comes up with a plausibly excuse.

"No!" The two jump out from their skins. "I forgot that we had that!" Honda exclaims stupidly. "Jonouchi we actually need to start on that assignment!"

End of school…

"Bye Anzu, I'll see you tomorrow," Yugi tells her goodbye quickly, before making his leave out from the classroom.

"Oh um, goodbye!" She yells back to him. _That's strange, I was hoping to walk home with him._

"Seriously, what's with Yugi leaving so suddenly on Wednesdays?" Katsuya wonders. "Do you know why Anzu?"

"No sorry I don't."

"I didn't even get a goodbye," Honda says childishly.

"You don't think…he could be…?" Katsuya trails off.

"What?"

"What if he's doing something illegal? Think about it, he hasn't told any of us. It must be something serious."

"You mean like working?" Anzu asks.

Katsuya nods his head. "But it could be worse…what if he's working for the black market?!"

"Are you sure you're referring to Yugi here?" Ryuji joins their conversation. "It doesn't seem to fit with his character."

"You never know what could happen though. One minute he might be his normal self, the next minute, he could snap just like that."

"You know what Jonouchi? I think you talk a lot of crap," Honda says, a little too calmly.

"Oh yeah? I don't see you coming up with any ideas piggy!"

"Stop calling me that already!"

Yugi arrives at the game shop. He quickly opens the door and starts going up the stairs. "Yugi?" His grandpa stops him.

"Hi grandpa, sorry I'm kind of in a hurry."

His grandpa crosses his arms. "If you're looking for your kit, it's in the living room."

"Thanks grandpa, I was looking…." He stops, realising what his grandpa had just said.

His grandpa chuckles. "So that's why you've been late on Wednesdays. Though, you could've told me Yugi, I wouldn't have minded you know."

"I know, but it's kind of embarrassing…" he admits.

"Not at all Yugi. I think it's a great idea." Yugi doesn't speak again. "Hmmm? What's wrong Yugi?"

"I have something I need to tell you," he pauses. Sugoroku uncrosses his arms and tilts his head slightly to the side, showing he was listening. "It's…well…Anzu and I are dating now." Sugoroku begins chuckling again. "Did I say something weird?"

"No," he says, "I'm just happy. I knew you two would eventually get together. Seems as if you've finally plucked up the courage to tell her how you feel." He pats Yugi on the shoulder. "She's a nice girl after all."

"Yeah."

"Go and get your kit. It's what you needed right?" Yugi nods and goes to fetch his bag.

* * *

 _Maybe I should text him? No, that seems too needy._ Anzu thinks to herself as she heads home from school. _I'm sure it's nothing bad anyway, but it's strange for him not to tell me about it._ She lets out a sigh and carries on home.

As she continued on, she comes across a small group of girls who were gathered around one of the duel monster posters. The poster was one from when Yugi won the battle city tournament. It got a lot of attention, and Yugi became more popular. "Hey, hey. Take my picture with it," one of the girls requested. She goes next to and begins posing in a provocative way.

 _Seriously? You look ridiculous. At least it's only a poster._ Anzu ignores the obsessing girls and walks past them.

The girl posing notices Anzu and calls her. "Hey you!" Anzu decides to continue walking. _Oh, so you're going to ignore me then?_

Her clique run in front of Anzu to stop her. Anzu does indeed stop walking. _What on earth do they want?_

"You shouldn't have ignored me," the model girl comes up behind her, causing Anzu to turn around and look at her. "I know who you are."

"You do?" Anzu seems unsure.

"You're Anzu Mazaki," she points out simply.

"I am, and what about it?"

"Well, you see I hear that you're close to the king of games, Yugi Mutou of course."

 _What is she getting at?_ "That's right, we are."

The girl begins giggling. "I'm going to say this once, but, can you back off from him?"

Anzu was shocked. "Huh?"

"Are you deaf or something? Geez, I hate repeating myself. But since you didn't understand the first time, I'll say it again. Back off from Yugi Mutou, okay?"

 _Who the hell does she think she is?!_ Anzu smirks slightly. "I heard you the first time. Sorry, I can't do that. You see, I'm his girlfriend."

The girl's posse begin laughing hysterically, including model girl. "Hahaha! That's funny. But, it seems you don't understand. When I want something I get it."

Anzu becomes irritated. "Is that so? Sorry, but Yugi isn't someone you can have."

"You're starting to piss me off!"

 _I better just leave._ "Well it's not my problem. Now, if you'll please excuse me." Anzu turns to try and leave but the girl's posse won't let her past.

"We're not done with you yet," one of them explain.

Model girl begins speaking again. "Fine! Let's settle this another way." Anzu faces the girl again. "This Saturday at 12 o clock, we shall have a duel."

"What?!" Anzu exclaims, "Why?"

"To see who exactly deserves to be with Yugi Mutou. I heard that you don't even duel. I don't understand how the king of games would fall for someone like you. So, I propose a bet."

"What kind of bet?"

"If I win, you'll break up with him."

"There's no way in hell I'd do that!"

The girl puts on a smug face. "Oh I see, you're just scared to get your behind beat by a champion. Come on, it's a bet anyway."

 _I just want to slap her in the face!_ "Fine I'll do it. If I win, you'll stay away from Yugi for good."

"Okay then, deal. I look forward to it, Mazaki. Come on girls." She and her posse walk off.

 _How on earth am I going to win? She might actually be very good. I need Yugi's help. After all, if I lose…_ She shakes her head. _No, I will win!_

"Phew!" Yugi gasps out as he lands onto his bed. "I'm so tired." He decided to increase the intensity of the workout. "Time for a shower."

Once Yugi was refreshed, he decides to look at the instructions that Bakura provided for him. He finds his paper and turns it over. There was a lot of steps to do. "Wow, Bakura must have spent ages doing this. He sure is amazing at this kind of stuff." Yugi turns on his laptop.

Yugi begins straight away on the steps. "Okay, so the first thing to do is to search for a sequence of quotes and click on the first web link. There's a total of 10. This might take a while."

Yugi continues with the other steps, appearing to be completely random. "Right, last step. Enter the word 'mask' into your URL and wait. Seems simply enough." Yugi does as instructed and waits. Two minutes go by, but nothing has happen. "I wonder how long I need to wait. Perhaps I did a step wrong."

After another minute, Yugi's laptop screen goes black. He waits eagerly for the webpage to show. And just like that, the dark corporation page shows. "There it is. The 'dirty duelling' link." Yugi clicks the link, showing the password screen. "Hmmm…I wonder what the password could be." Yugi starts typing with the obvious, such as Dark Corporation, duelling and dirty duelling. "Of course, too predictable. It must be something very obscure. Maybe that anonymous writer knows it. I'll text Bakura for the link."

"Yugi!" His grandpa knocks on the door, scaring Yugi almost to death.

"What is it?!" Yugi asks whilst closing the webpage.

"Dinner's ready!"

"Okay thanks grandpa!" _Great…I lost the page._


	14. Hurt

**A/N: Chapter 14! Hi again everyone. Sorry it's been a while since I've posted, been very busy with deadlines and Christmas. Thank you all so much for understanding as to why I couldn't post my latest chapter earlier, you're all amazing. Have a cookie for being amazing! I hope you all had a good Christmas. If you guys didn't know, the second trailer for the new Yugioh movie is out, go watch it! It's awesome! Anyway, let's get back to the topic at hand. Please enjoy the latest chapter and as always, a review is much appreciated.**

* * *

Chapter 14: Hurt

As soon as Yugi was finished with dinner, he returned to his laptop. Bakura had replied to him, linking Yugi with the anonymous writer's webpage. Yugi swiftly, once his laptop had finished booting up, typed in the link. Yugi taps 'enter', and the page eventually loads. It was a pretty standard blog, comprising of the writer's main comment along with other blogger's writing their thoughts.

Yugi decides to send a pm directly to the writer. "Hmmm… how should I start?" Yugi wonders. He begins typing, _"Dear writer, you may not believe this but, I'm Yugi Mutou. I'm writing to ask you more about the dark corporation, since you were able to find their website."_ Yugi clicks enter to send the message.

Not long after, Yugi receives a reply. The message read, " _If you really are the king of games, you will meet me in person at this location I have linked to this message. Be there tomorrow for 7:30 in the morning."_

Yugi clicks the link, which shows him a photograph. "I know this place…"

Thursday morning. Yugi leaves the game shop to meet the anonymous writer. He was surprised that the photograph was close to where he lived. Specifically, it was his local park. He arrives about five minutes early and waits for the writer to arrive. Yugi has no idea as to who he is expecting, since the writer didn't give him any details as to what he looked like.

"Yugi!" Someone called to him from behind. He turns around. He finds that Mokuba was heading towards him.

"Mokuba? What are you doing here?" Yugi asks him.

"Huh? I thought that was obvious. I asked you to meet me here at this time," he explains.

"You did?"

Mokuba lets out a heavy sigh. "Do I have to spell it out for you?" He points to his own chest. "I'm the writer of that blog."

"What? Wait. You are?"

"Yes Yugi, who else could it be?"

"Well I'm just surprised that it was you Mokuba. It doesn't seem to be your usual calibre."

"So you noticed. Yes it is odd for me to do this, but I was hoping that you would find that blog eventually. And you did." Yugi begins to think. "You're probably wondering why I wanted you to find that website," Mokuba suggests.

"Yes, why Mokuba? And how did you know about this corporation?"

Mokuba clears his throat. "To put it simply, I need your help. My brother is deciding not to get involved."

"So Kaiba did know about this…" Yugi comments.

"Of course he did. My brother's the best when it comes to knowing everything to do with duel monsters. Anyway, it wasn't easy tracking this website. A lot of codes needed breaking and viruses tackling. But it was no problem for me, because Kaiba Corporation has the best and latest technology when it comes to dealing with stuff like this."

"If that's the case, then you probably know the password to access the full website," Yugi assumes.

Mokuba scratches his cheek awkwardly. "No…I don't know that yet." Yugi sweat drops. Mokuba becomes annoyed. "Don't give me that look! I'm currently working on it. It takes time with these things."

"Okay, okay. How long?"

"I don't know yet. You're just going to have to be patient. In the meantime, I need you to tell me anything you know about this dark corporation."

Yugi nods and begins explaining how he witnessed Haga's duel with the masked duellist.

"Hmmm…" Mokuba ponders. "I'll begin looking into it. For now, take my number." He hands Yugi a small piece of paper. "You better let me know if you find out anything new."

"Sure, I'll try and help in any way I can. After all, this is duel monsters we are talking about."

Mokuba nods. "Okay. It's now my que to leave," he leaves Yugi and heads towards a Kaiba Corporation limo.

Yugi shoves the paper into his pocket for time being and makes his way to school. As Yugi was walking, he begins thinking about Anzu. _I feel stupid for trying to force myself on her. I just… couldn't help myself. She's just so cute. I really want to kiss her, but it's been hard to for some reason._ "Ooof!" Yugi stumbled back a little as he wasn't watching where he was going. "Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going…" he looks up to see who he bumped into. He gulps uneasily as he looks up at three well-built men, who all had scary looking expressions.

One of them spits onto the ground. "You got a problem kid?" One of them asks him spitefully.

Yugi frantically shakes his head. "No," he replies quickly. He slightly ducks his head and walks past them. One of the other men grab his shoulder.

"Who said you could walk away?" He snarls.

"Hey, hey guys. I think I know this guy from somewhere," the third one states.

"Shut the hell up! You're full of crap weasel."

"No listen. He was on TV for something. Wasn't it for that card game? You know, duel monsters."

"Is that right…? Hey kid! Are you this king of games or something crappy like that?"

"I guess…" Yugi really didn't feel like staying or talking for that matter, he just wanted to get away from these guys.

"Hehe, is that so? Do you want to know something kid? It's a fun little game us three like to do with nerdy kids like you."

"Look… I don't want any trouble," Yugi explains.

"Oh don't worry, we won't get into trouble. But you will."

* * *

At school. Anzu was sitting at her desk waiting for Yugi to arrive. "Good morning Anzu," Bakura greets her as he walks up to her desk.

She turns to look at him. "Morning Bakura."

"Is Yugi not with you?"

"No. He said he needed to be up early for something. But, he is oddly late for school. I hope he's okay."

"I'm sure he is."

"I'm going to call him just in case." She takes out her phone and calls Yugi. She tries for him twice, but no answer. "That's odd…"

"Okay class settle down, first period is starting," the teacher announces.

As first period commenced, Anzu began to worry. It wasn't like Yugi to not answer his phone, or be this late to class. She glances over at Jonouchi, who shrugs his shoulders indicating that he doesn't know where Yugi is either.

20 minutes later, the nurse bangs on the classroom door, startling the teacher. "Y-yes?"

The nurse slides open the door. "I'm sorry for disturbing your class, but I was hoping to ask for the following students."

"Who do you require?"

"I need Anzu Mizaki, Ryo Bakura, Katsuya Jonouchi, Hiroto Honda and Ryuji Otogi."

"All right then, will the following students please go with the nurse."

The five of them follow the nurse quickly and she rushes down the corridor. "If you don't mind me asking, why do you need us?" Ryuji asks.

"It's your classmate Yugi Mutou. He's been injured. I was told that you were all the closest to him," she explains.

"What happened?" Katsuya asks.

"He won't tell me, that's why I need you." The nurse opens the door to her office.

"Yugi!" His friends yell worryingly. As they see him lying down on one of the beds, covered in cuts and bruises. They all hurry to him and Anzu kneels down at the side of the bed, and holds his hand.

"What on earth happened to you!?" Honda yells.

"I would appreciate it if you would lower your tone," the nurse demands.

"Sorry," Honda whispers, "what on earth happened to you?"

Yugi avoids his friend's gaze. "It's nothing…"

"Nothing my ass," Jonouchi retaliates. "Did you get into a fight? That's not like you."

"Guys it's nothing for you to worry about. I just bumped into some guys who weren't exactly friendly."

"Of course we need to worry about this Yugi," Bakura explains.

"I say you tell us who these guys are, so we can beat the crap out of them," Jonouchi tells Yugi.

"You will do no such thing," the nurse disagrees. Jonouchi sinks his head hopelessly. "For now Yugi, I think you should head home. You're in no condition to learn."

"I'm staying," he says firmly.

"Come on Yugi, she's right you know," Ryuji confirms.

"I don't care. I'm staying, I don't want to go home right now," Yugi acts stubbornly.

"Yugi…" Jonouchi trails off.

The nurse sighs. "Okay, fine. But you're staying in that bed, are we clear?"

"Yes ma'am," Yugi replies.

"The rest of you can head back to class now."

"Oh, nurse? Can I please stay with Yugi? You know, in case he wonders off," Anzu asks her.

The nurse raises her eyebrow, but agrees. "Okay you can stay, but not for the whole day. I don't want you missing out on valuable content."

Anzu nods. "Thank you."

"See you later guys," Jonouchi says before him and the other three leave the office.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go and see another student in private. Please look after him whilst I'm gone," the nurse asks of Anzu.

"I will," she replies. The nurse then leaves the office, shutting the door behind her. Anzu lets out a sigh and looks up at Yugi, since she was still holding his hand. "Are you okay?" She asks in a gently voice.

He smiles. "Yeah I'm okay. Just a little achy." He then turns his gaze away from her, sulking slightly.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm ashamed…" he admits.

"Why?"

"Because I'm weak, I couldn't stand up on my own. I'm so stupid and pathetic."

"No you're not!" Anzu snaps at him, causing Yugi to flinch a little. Anzu moves herself off the floor and sits on the bed. "You're not weak Yugi, you're strong. I know you are, I've seen how much you've grown."

"No, I'm not. I'm not strong enough to protect you. I mean, look at me. I'm not worthy enough to be with you Anzu."

Anzu places her palm on Yugi's cheek. He turns to look at her and gasps a little, seeing how angry her eyes were. "Yugi. I like you for who you are. In that situation, I think very few guys would come out without being hurt. I don't want you to fight for me Yugi. That's not why I fell for you. I don't want you to engage in fights, because that's not you. You're kind and considerate, and you've gained strength that you don't know yourself from Atem. So don't change Yugi. Stay exactly who you are. And don't treat me like we are in different leagues! We've know each other for a long time."

Yugi eyes widen, but soften shortly after. "Okay…" Yugi says bashfully.

"Promise?"

"Yeah I promise, Anzu."

"Good," she smiles at him and removes her palm from his face. This causes Yugi to frown a little. "What's with that look?" Anzu asks him playfully.

"Your hand was warm," he explains weakly.

Anzu giggles. "You're silly you know."

"Am I?" He teases.

"You can ask me if you want me to touch you, you know," she explains but then quickly blushes as to what she just said. _Wait that sounds so wrong!_ She quickly speaks, "I mean, you know just your cheek, I-I didn't mean anything by it or anything. Y-you know what, forgot what I said." Yugi begins laughing at her. She pouts at him. "And just what's so funny?"

He composes himself. "You, acting all nervous around me."

She crosses her arms. "I'm not nervous around you."

"Yes you are."

"I'm not."

"It's obvious you are."

"How so?"

"You just did now, when you asked me that I could ask you to touch me," he gives her a cheeky grin.

"Okay fine," she admits. "But… aren't you nervous around me?"

"Of course I am, nearly all the time when I'm with you."

"Oh… I see."

"Actually… I wanted to apologise again for the other day."

"What for?"

He scratches the back of his head nervously. "You know… when we were in your room…"

Anzu thinks. "I don't think you did anything wrong."

"When I pushed you down I mean…"

"Oh. No, don't worry about it. You don't need to apologise for that. I didn't mind that you did that."

"Really…?"

Anzu blushes again. "Y-yeah. Really."

Yugi began thinking. _I wonder if I could kiss her now. We are alone and all. But the nurse could return, which would be extremely awkward._ Yugi props himself up into a sitting position, since he had been lying down. He winces as he does so, considering he had a lot of bruises. "Careful Yugi. It might be better if you were to stay lying down," she suggests.

"I'm fine," he assures her. He edges closer to her and looks at her with a small smile. Next, he begins to run his fingers through her hair. _It's so soft and well kept._

Anzu liked Yugi's forwardness and she closes her eyes, enjoying the feel of him stroking her hair. Yugi wasn't sure if she was inviting him to kiss her or not. He decides to place his other hand gently onto her waist. Anzu smiles and opens her eyes to look at him. "A-Anzu… can I…?" She just nods her head knowing what he was wanting to ask. Yugi swallows hard. He darts his eyes back and forth from her eyes to her lips. Anzu helps him by placing her palm back onto his cheek, whilst using her other hand to caress his thigh.

Yugi slowly leans towards her, his lips focusing on her lips. Anzu slowly closes her eyes, as she begins to feel Yugi's warm breath. Yugi pauses momentarily, his lips about an inch away from hers. He too closes his eyes and gently kisses her lips. He only holds the kiss for about four seconds, and then parts from her. But, leaving his lips close to hers. Anzu re-opens her eyes and quickly closes them again, as she initiates the second kiss. This time, the kiss lasted longer, but it was chaste. The two of them felt a bit awkward, since they were inexperienced. Nevertheless, Yugi enjoyed the sensation of Anzu's soft lips.

Eventually, the two of them pull away, both of them having a slight blush on their face. "That w-was my first kiss…" Anzu admits to him shyly.

"It was my first kiss too," he tells her. "It didn't suck did it?"

"No, far from it. It was nice," she gives him a reassuring smile.

"I've wanted to kiss you for a while now."

"Same with you. I suppose the previous interruptions didn't exactly help." Anzu removes her hands from him and sits next to him, so that their hips were in line. She then gently rubs his back. "Where does the pain hurt most?"

"Mostly on my stomach and chest, but it's fine really."

"Hmmm…" Anzu squints her eyes curiously. "Let me see."

"What? See what?"

"Your stomach," she points to his abdomen. "I want to see how bad it is."

"Huh?!" Yugi reacts dramatically at her request and inches away from her. "W-wait Anzu. It's fine really."

"What's the problem? I'd like to see how bad it is."

"A-Anzu… you realise t-that I'd have to remove my shirt, right?"

"Yes I know that."

 _She's not bothered by that? But, even I don't know how bad it is…_

"O-okay if you're fine with it…" Yugi nervously removes his blue jacket, before trying to undo his shirt buttons. His hands were shaking so much that he could barely remove his top button.

Anzu notes his uneasiness and giggles a little. "Do you need some help?" She tries to ask him with a poker face. Yugi lets his arms drop and nods. As she shifted closer to him, Yugi turned his head away from Anzu's direction. She slowly begins to undo his buttons. As more and more of his skin was revealed to her, she felt Yugi stiffen. She stops what she's doing. "Do you want me to stop? I'm sorry if I've made you feel uncomfortable."

Yugi turns his head back to look at her. "N-no it's fine. It's just a bit embarrassing…. I mean, you seem completely fine with removing my shirt."

Anzu finally clicked onto what he was on about. "Oh, sorry! I wasn't thinking of…. I just wanted to see if the damage was bad… I wasn't thinking of a way for you to get your shirt off or anything. Great, now I feel stupid…"

"No, I'm the one who's stupid. I shouldn't have been thinking of other things…" he trails off.

Anzu keeps quiet for a moment before speaking again. "Is it okay for me to continue?" Yugi just nods in response. Anzu continues to unbutton his shirt, but struggles in the process as she now felt nervous.

"Do you need help?" He teases her.

"I'm fine," she replies playfully and gives him an eyeful. Once she'd unbuttoned the last button, she gently grabs both ends, of the shirt, and pulls them apart to get a look at his torso. She stares at him in awe and in concern. She sees that Yugi is slightly built, but his pleasant physique was distorted by the amount of bruises and scratches. "Oh Yugi…" she says in a worrying tone.

"Sorry about that, now why don't you… am I interrupting?" The nurse suddenly returns.

Anzu jumps back off the bed. "N-no, I was just checking his injuries…" she quickly explains.

"Is that so…? Well, whilst you're at it, could you apply this cream? It will help with the swelling," she passes the bottle of cream to Anzu. "I'm sure he would prefer if you were to do it," the nurse gives her a cheeky wink and leaves the office again. Anzu awkwardly sweat drops.

She passes the bottle to Yugi, causing him to be confused. "Here, you need it."

"I know that, but aren't you going to apply it?"

Anzu waves her hands up in protest. "No, no. I think you're capable of doing that yourself."

"You don't want to right?"

"It's not that! I-I just… I mean… I'm a little nervous about rubbing your body. I mean…! Touching your body…! Never mind just ignore me."

Yugi smirks at her. "I see. Sorry."

Anzu lets out a sigh. "I'll come and get you at the end of the day, okay?" She leans over to him and gives him a peck on the cheek.

"Get in there Yugi!" Honda wolf whistles from outside the hallway.

"H-Honda?!" Yugi jumps out of his skin.

"You'd better start running Honda…" Anzu cracks her knuckles irritably.

"I'll see you later Yugi! You can tell us all about it later!" Honda rushes down the hallway midsentence, as Anzu had started chasing him.


End file.
